The State Of Colorado Proposes Accepting Cryptocurrency For Political Campaigns
On the 17th may, the Denver Post reported that Political candidates in Colorado would soon accept Bitcoin or other digital currencies for their campaigns.
The Denver Post also reported that Secretary of State Wayne Williams made the proposition for taking donations of cryptocurrencies in political campaigns in draft rules introduced on May 16
The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has endorsed the acknowledgment of Bitcoin as an in-kind donation for political campaigns, which gives the campaign 10 days to transfer the donated cryptocurrency into their campaign’s official depository.
Donations in crypto would be treated with as monetary donations, the value being resolved at the time of donation. As indicated by the Denver Post, Colorado is probably going to take after the FEC’s designation of cryptocurrency being an in-kind donation, which would return or refund contributions back to the donators if the value of the donated gave cryptocurrency, surpasses the total limit.
While such donations might be helpful for the donator, Colorado’s deputy secretary of state Suzanne Staiert stated, “[i]it’s going to be an accounting problem, potentially, for campaigns who want to use it.” However, Staiert also added that the “FEC is doing it now, so we are just going along for the ride.”
Colorado would not be the first U.S. state to enable donations to political campaigns in cryptocurrency — the first being New Hampshire, which started enabling candidates to acknowledge contributions in cryptocurrency in 2014.
Not long ago, Cointelegraph reported that a bit of state legislation to make rules for recognizing crypto tokens was voted down in the Colorado state Senate, in what some perceived as a hit to blockchain technology in the state.
Austin Peterson from Missouri received the largest reported bitcoin donation in his political campaign. In 2016, Senator Rand Paul also accepted crypto donations during his presidential bid.
