Increasing Influence of Bitcoin in US Politics
Austin Petersen, a well-known personality in liberty circles, has revealed that his campaign received a colossal amount of bitcoin this week. The donation was immediately returned. Mr. Petersen is the founder of the influential website, The Libertarian Republic, and is also the third in the race for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.
“To whoever tried to give us $130,276 in #Bitcoin on Saturday,” posted US Senate hopeful Austin Petersen in what had to be a tortuous Facebook message, “we had to refuse your donation. Please donate $5,400 to http://austinpetersen.com/bitcoin in order to comply with FEC regulations. Also, start a PAC or something mate!”
Mr. Petersen’s opinion of bitcoin is well documented. This is not the first time his campaign has returned a crypto donation. The same has occurred two times already when he had to return hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin. He has the record of receiving the most legally donated bitcoin, estimated at $4,500. Recent polling statistics show that Mr. Petersen is about 30 percent off the pace for the nomination.
His campaign manager told ABC News, “I think it goes without saying we’re going to see a lot more of this in terms of campaign contributions and campaign financing.”
Another candidate for Congress in the person of coder Brian Forde, former MIT Media Lab digital currency director and one-time technology advisor to President Obama, has made his stand clear, coming out strongly in favor of cryptocurrency.
Mr. Fordes received from his opponent a bitcoin apologist that sounded more like a slur or a dire. Brian Forde responded, “My supporters didn’t HODL, but they made donations to my campaign in bitcoin because they have faith in the technology. The comments accusing my supporters are completely inaccurate, sensationalist and it is due to my opponent’s lack of understanding of the technology. My supporters wouldn’t have donated to the campaign if they were just trying to speculate.”
The Libertarian Party is the United States’ most viable third party option. The leadership of the party has over the years, been crouched and beckoned very mainstream candidates to its national platform. You might actually think that there is nothing wrong with such a strategy, but what then is the point of being a libertarian if the official party offers up almost the same type of candidates as the two main parties, Joshua Smith wondered. Mr. Smith has decided to run for the Chair position as an insurgent candidate. He disagrees with previous and current leadership for not doing enough to welcome the crypto community.
“We also need to do a better job of leveraging our membership’s connections within the Crypto community as a fundraising avenue,” he posted. “Right now, there are literally billions of dollars wrapped up in Crypto, with the majority of those currently investing being very Libertarian-minded people. Building coalitions with this community can help change our financial situation immensely, as well as quickly, and serves the added bonus of bringing new members to the party. I have already started building coalitions among libertarians involved with Crypto-community leaders such as Nexus and Vector Space Systems and would continue to build upon these efforts as LNC Chair.”
