Several political incumbents and hopefuls in the United States have already established bitcoin platforms for financial contributions, despite concerns that it might not be fully permitted by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). This could help transform the way campaigns finance their operations.
The FEC announced that it would be reviewing a request Wednesday to allow bitcoin donations for political campaigns during the 2014 mid-term elections. Due to the controversy behind the digital currency, the group introducing the proposal, Make Your Laws, is only moving forward carefully and modestly.
Here are some of the political action committee’s (PAC) suggestions to permit the cryptocurrency to become an active participant in the political process:
- Contributions of up to $100
- Donors must provide their contact information (name, address, occupation and employers)
- Contributors must confirm that the bitcoin donation is their own
- All Make Your Laws donations would be cashed out in U.S. dollars
“We strongly believe that campaign finance needs to be done in a transparent, auditable, and responsible manner. We also want to give our users the ability to make political contributions using Bitcoin,” the group said in its explanation of its draft summary. “Because of the legal context of this request, we can only ask the FEC to approve our own activity; we can’t ask them to impose requirements on other political committees. However, if we are successful in getting the FEC’s approval for our method, it’s likely that other political committees will adopt the same policy.”
At the present time, there is no current federal law that prohibits the utilization of virtual currencies in elections. Many political campaigns have taken advantage of this and have decided to incorporate bitcoin into their arsenal of fundraising tools.
We reported on a handful of candidates permitting their supporters to contribute in bitcoins. One of the latest politicos is Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott, a Republican who is running for governor of the Lone Star State. He made the announcement late last week and has garnered tremendous buzz in just a short few days.
“I’m excited to see our campaign add another tool to our cutting-edge digital outreach, which is allowing us to reach more Texans than any previous campaign in the state,” said Abbott in a statement. “The spirit of Bitcoin embodies the free market principles that make Texas a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. We welcome the Bitcoin community to join our team.”
Political organizations have also ventured into bitcoin. We reported that the Libertarian Party of Texas confirmed it would be accepting bitcoins, while the federal Libertarian Party already receives contributions in bitcoin – it is estimated that it raises anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 each year, according to Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict.
“Libertarians are a little more interested in currencies than the average person out there, so we try to comply with requests to contribute in Bitcoin,” said Benedict, whose group includes members who oppose government regulation, even on currency. “We’re watching for an update to the ruling,” he told CNN.
It is still unclear if either of the national Republican or Democratic parties will use bitcoin for the 2016 presidential election.
The primary concern for the bitcoin community and its supporters is the federal government. Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was explicit in highlighting that law enforcement will adapt to the technology and focus on bitcoin because it can be used to participate in and hide illicit activity and criminal transactions.