The Black Keys, an outspokenly liberal indie rock duo, are set to play a concert this week in their native Ohio for a pro-crypto political outreach initiative—at the same time that affiliated crypto PACs are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the state’s nailbiter Senate race to lift up the campaign of a controversial pro-MAGA Republican. 

On Friday evening, The Black Keys are set to play a free show in their hometown of Akron featuring complimentary food and drinks for attendees, put on by Stand With Crypto—a pro-crypto political organization launched by Coinbase. 

The event is part of a series of flashy, free “America Loves Crypto” concerts that Stand With Crypto has held in swing states in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election. Recent events in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit have enticed attendees with free refreshments and major acts including The Chainsmokers and Big Sean.

The events, which are ostensibly designed to showcase the grassroots political strength of American crypto owners as a voting bloc, constitute just one arm of Coinbase’s aggressive push to influence the 2024 election. 

The crypto exchange has, along with a handful of other crypto-focused corporations, flooded hundreds of millions of dollars into super PACs in recent months—which have in turn spent record amounts in battleground House and Senate races that will likely determine control of Congress.

The largest of those PACs, Fairshake, has handily become the biggest special interest spender in the 2024 election, outraising the well-heeled pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, for example, by more than a factor of two. 

While these groups have begun unloading cash on dozens of races across the country, no election has attracted more money from the PACs than Ohio’s hotly contested senate race. In that race—in which the incumbent Democrat, Sherrod Brown, is attempting to fend off a challenge from outspoken pro-MAGA businessman Bernie Moreno—Coinbase-affiliated PACs have spent some $40 million attempting to flip the seat for Republicans.

It makes sense why the crypto lobby is so determined to unseat Brown—he has long been skeptical of digital assets, and is a close ally of industry villain Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). 

But Brown’s conservative challenger is not without controversy himself. While an outspoken crypto advocate, the Donald Trump-endorsed Moreno has attracted scrutiny in recent weeks for doubling down on the unsubstantiated, racially charged conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Ohio have been eating neighbors’ pets and stealing government services. Last month, the businessman also landed in hot water for asserting that abortion “isn’t an issue” for women “past 50.”

An event closely linked to Moreno’s top fundraisers thus makes a curious fit for The Black Keys, who have previously expressed commitment to liberal causes. During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast during the Trump presidency, the band’s drummer, Patrick Carney, described both he and his frontman Dan Auerbach as “pretty liberal motherfuckers.”

It’s unclear what, then, prompted the group to play Friday’s crypto-themed event in Ohio. The Black Keys have apparently poked fun at cryptocurrency and NFTs across promotional efforts for their last couple albums, but otherwise don’t appear to have made any genuine public statements about digital assets.

It has been a tough year for the rock duo, though. Earlier this summer, the Keys canceled a national tour, reportedly due to low ticket sales, and fired their managers. In a since-deleted Twitter post, Carney said the band “got fucked,” but did not elaborate. 

Decrypt reached out to Stand With Crypto regarding how much The Black Keys were paid to perform at Friday’s “America Loves Crypto” event, but did not immediately receive a response. 

The crypto lobby’s prodigious spending on Ohio’s senate race, meanwhile, appears to be paying off. While Brown led the race this summer by a margin of more than six points, Moreno has now almost entirely erased that gap, leaving the race in a dead heat, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

And, in recent weeks, Fairshake has thrown another $15 million into the fund dedicated to assisting Moreno, according to new campaign finance filings released Sunday.

Edited by Andrew Hayward