Altcoins and Bitcoin power these 17 politicians and political groups

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Cryptocurrency is only a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars spent on federal elections. But candidates and political committees are increasingly interested in accepting bitcoins and altcoins. Lawyers offer several reasons for switching to politi-crypto: convenience, inclusion, confidentiality.

Are you a political candidate or leading a political committee and accepting cryptocurrency? We want to hear from you. Email the authors of this article.

As candidates begin campaigning ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, old-fashioned credit cards, debit cards and paper checks remain the kingdom’s coin to fuel their political efforts.

But a growing number of them are accepting cryptocurrencies, citing various reasons for inclusion, convenience, tax benefits, and privacy for doing so.

At best, the rules for raising and spending cryptocurrency in federal elections are uncertain. Congress has not passed any legislation directly addressing the issue.

The guidelines that exist, as they are, largely stem from a 2014 advisory opinion of the Federal Election Commission which, among other things, established that political committees have the right to accept bitcoin.

The FEC also decided that the committees “should assess this contribution based on the market value of the bitcoins at the time the contribution is received.” If the price of bitcoin rises while a political committee is in possession of it, the committee can legally profit from it.

The FEC’s decision, however, is also full of unanswered questions:

The commissioners could not agree on whether political committees can directly “buy goods and services with bitcoins they have received as contributions”. has proliferated over the past seven years. While the FEC specifically says that political committees can accept up to $ 100 worth of bitcoin, it does not say whether it is legal for committees to accept more. (Several have done this without branching out or have found workarounds. More on this soon.) Super PACs, which can legally accept unlimited sums to defend or against politicians, can they accept quantities? unlimited cryptocurrency? The FEC did not say so. While the FEC provides guidelines for publicly reporting cryptocurrency contributions, an insider review of federal files and data provided by non-partisan research organization OpenSecrets indicates that political committees have not consistently followed them. .

“This is probably a good time for the government to start thinking about the most effective way to regulate cryptocurrency in our political campaigns,” said Austin Graham, lawyer at the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center.

Here are 17 federal political candidates and political committees who recently led the way in the uncertain cryptocurrency and election arena.

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