On April 1, 2025, financial firm First Trust published a prospectus stating that it was starting an exchange-traded fund focusing on bitcoin and calling for interested investors. The fund allows investors to receive a return in bitcoin.
That same day, according to campaign filings with the Federal Election Commission, First Trust CEO Jim Bowen gave $100,000 to Steil Victory Fund, the political action committee associated with Wisconsin Republican Congressman Bryan Steil.
Steil is a member of the House Finance Committee and the chairman of the subcommittee Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, which discusses proposed legislation on cryptocurrency, among other things.
When asked about his relationship with Bowen, Steil said:
“I have relationships with a large number of people who I meet with on occasion,” Steil said, adding that he’s met with electrical and painters union members.
“I had a group of truckers who came in and talked to me about federal regulation. I talk to a whole array of people from folks who come to our town halls to folks who stop by our office like the painters union did earlier this week,” Steil said.
First Trust declined to comment for this story.
The cryptocurrency industry and financial firms that work with crypto donate to Republicans and Democrats across the country. In Wisconsin, the bulk of the campaign contributions from those companies has gone to Steil during the last two election cycles.
The crypto industry has even spent money on Steil’s behalf through large media buys. In October 2024, weeks before that year’s election, Steil benefited from more than $764,000 in media spending from Fairshake, a political action committee backed by major crypto firms, including Coinbase.
“I have no control,” Steil said of Fairshake’s support for his campaign in 2024. “I can’t request funds from those organizations. I can’t coordinate. I follow all federal laws associated with it.”
“On the actual campaign that I can control, we just abide by all federal rules, regulations and limits.”
Steil’s two major fundraising vehicles are Steil for Wisconsin, his primary campaign committee, and Steil Victory Fund.
“It’s very common for federal candidates to raise funds into other vehicles that then can redistribute those funds following federal law,” Steil said.
“An individual who gives money to the Steil Victory Fund, up to $7,000 from the Steil Victory Fund can be transferred to Steil for Wisconsin campaign … the remainder of that is distributed, following federal law, to other organizations, such as the NRCC [National Republican Congressional Committee] or the Wisconsin State [Republican] Party.”
For his 2026 re-election campaign, Steil has more cash on hand than any House candidate in Wisconsin, with $5.5 million, and the next nearest Democrat running in the district has $140,000 cash on hand.
Steil has transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from Steil Victory Fund to Steil for Wisconsin.
But Steil Victory Fund has also transferred thousands of dollars to committees of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, On Wisconsin PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Steil was instrumental in the passage of the GENIUS Act
Steil has been an advocate for the industry during his time in Congress and has helped President Donald Trump achieve some crypto legislative success.
Steil introduced the STABLE Act, which requires financial institutions with U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins to back each coin with cash or bank deposits. The legislation was later included in the GENIUS Act, which passed in 2025 and was a piece of cryptocurrency legislation.
“They will be auditable, meaning you can actually check that the reserves are there,” Steil said. “There’s a regulatory framework for those companies to exist, which will be to the great benefit of consumers to engage in transactions using stablecoins.”
Stablecoins are meant to have less volatility than other cryptocurrencies. Financial firms that use stablecoins need to have a 1:1 ratio of stablecoins and U.S. dollars.
Steil was present at the White House when Trump signed the GENIUS Act in July 2025.
Molly White, a former software engineer turned crypto critic, runs the websites web3isgoingjustgreat.com, which aggregates news of scams in the crypto and financial technology space, and followthecrypto.com, which tracks campaign contributions by cryptocurrency industries. White said she isn’t buying the rhetoric coming from politicians on the need for crypto regulation.
“It’s really frustrating to me to see the extent to which industries like the cryptocurrency industry, but certainly not limited to the crypto industry, can exert influence over politicians who are intended to be representing their constituents, but now have this incredibly strong incentive to represent the interests of out-of-state tech companies and cryptocurrency companies,” White said.
“Bryan Steil is elected to represent people in Wisconsin. I don’t think any of these cryptocurrency companies have a strong nexus in Wisconsin, but now we’re seeing him talking about how it’s so important to protect the interests of these companies.”
Steil advocates for cryptocurrency, blockchain industries
Steil has done TV interviews, podcasts and public speaking forums advocating for cryptocurrency, blockchain and the digital ledger.
Beyond use in the financial markets, Steil has talked about using blockchain in federal elections.
In 2024, during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Steil was the keynote speaker at an event titled CryptoRNC in which he said blockchain “core concepts” could broadly be used in federal elections for transparency purposes.
“There’s some real interesting and innovative development work about taking our broader election system, placing it in a blockchain system for that visibility and transparency,” Steil said. “We see people exploring and innovating in that space, but I think there’s a lot more that can be done in it.”
During the same event at the RNC, Steil participated in a discussion with Kara Calvert, vice president of U.S. policy for Coinbase, on how the technology could be used in the financial system.
On Oct. 13, 2025, Calvert donated $7,000 to Steil for Wisconsin, via the Republican campaign fundraising committee, WINRED.
When asked if there is a conflict of interest between the donations and his chairmanship, Steil said he follows the rules as written.
“The rules and restrictions that are put in place are for everyone running for federal office … and there are limits and restrictions that are put in place to prevent any such conflict, and so we follow all of the federal rules,” Steil said.
Bianca Shaw, state director for Common Cause Wisconsin, a nonprofit voting and government transparency advocacy organization, said she believes there could be a conflict of interest for Steil.
“When a person writing the rules and is conducting the oversight is taking significant money from the industry that’s directly affected by the rules they’re making … there’s a conflict of interest risk,” Shaw said. “There may not be anything illegal happening, but I think the appearance that can corrode public trust.”
While the campaign contributions themselves aren’t illegal, Shaw said, Steil “has a responsibility to even avoid the appearance of being compromised.”
Steil’s chairmanship on digital assets
Steil said he’s been interested in developments in financial technology since he was put on the House Financial Services Committee in 2019. During the course of his political career he worked his way up through seniority and jumped at the opportunity to be chair of the subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
“I requested it,” Steil said on how he got the subcommittee chairmanship.
Steil has been a major advocate for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole and blockchain technology, often referred to as “Web3.”
“I believe that we are in a transformational time in technology as we enter the Web3 era, and the work is much broader than cryptocurrencies,” Steil said.
Steil said he’s pushing for more innovation for crypto and blockchain companies in the United States.
“The crux here is for the U.S. to dominate the Web3 race in the way it dominated Web2,” Steil said. “Making sure that the next wave of technology is U.S.-centric and absolutely essential, not only from a national security perspective but also to make sure we’re appropriately protecting consumers from the challenges we face as we enter this next wave.”
As for Steil himself, does he own any cryptocurrency?
“I have no personal investment in the space,” Steil said. “I own no digital assets. I don’t own Bitcoin, I never have and I don’t while I’m in office. Legally, I could. I make a personal choice not to, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety as I make decisions in this space.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: U.S. Rep. Steil advocates for crypto while industry backs his campaign
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
