Brock Pierce, the cryptocurrency mogul and former child actor, won’t be on the ballot this fall. Photo by Sebastiaan ter Burg via Wikimedia (CC BY-2.0)

Brock Pierce won’t be on the ballot this fall after all.

The cryptocurrency mogul and former child star told Politico this week that after months of flirting with an independent U.S. Senate run in Vermont, he’s decided to start a pro-crypto super PAC instead. 

The reason for his change of heart, he told the outlet, was the premature birth of his daughter in July. Not mentioned by the erstwhile candidate: the Puerto Rican government’s investigation into whether a Senate run would violate the terms of a generous tax break he receives on the island.

Despite being so noncommittal about whether he would run, Pierce spent big on a campaign infrastructure in Vermont. He hired a local campaign manager, set up a website, bought merch, and filmed a campaign ad. His most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission showed over $1.2 million in expenditures. (Almost all of that cash came from the candidate himself.)

Politico reported that Pierce’s super PAC will be called One America and will push for the development of a decentralized internet, often called Web3, and focus on political races in the Northeast. Pierce has not yet decided on the candidates to back, but expressed a desire to move quickly.

“The freight train, or Brock Train, or maybe blockchain can start to run at lightning speed,” he told the outlet.

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., easily won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Gerald Malloy, a political newcomer and hardline conservative, beat former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan for the Republican nomination.

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Previously VTDigger's political reporter.