Bitcoin For America: Cryptocurrencies In Campaign Finance

Last week, Secretary of State of Colorado Wayne Williams proposed a new set of rules for financing political campaigns, which now includes a section on cryptocurrencies.

Although a 2014 advisory opinion by the Federal Election Commission remains a major reference point for anyone who seeks to boost their chances for election with digital money, this non-regulatory document is barely fit to serve as a definitive guide into the world of crypto campaign finance.

At that time, Bitcoin was worth some $400, and altcoins were not even considered as a vehicle for campaign finance.

Britton Wolf, a 23-year-old Republican candidate for District 71 of the South Carolina House of Representatives in June primaries, asked the state House's ethics committee whether he could use digital currency donations to support his campaign.

The officials responded that he could not, since the definition of a campaign contribution, as provided by the state law, does not include cryptocurrency.

The libertarian's 2016 bid for Missouri House of Representatives has the distinction of being the first campaign ever to be funded entirely in Bitcoin.

In an apparent move to attract younger and tech-savvy voters, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced in April 2014 that he will accept Bitcoin contributions for his gubernatorial campaign.

His campaign manager called the use of bitcoin a 'no-brainer.

' Petersen's campaign amassed just south of $10,000 and became renowned for having received the largest ever single cryptocurrency contribution of 0.284 Bitcoin in December 2017.

' He later faced crypto fundraising issues when BitPay, a service that his campaign used for processing crypto donations, ran into licensing trouble with the state of New York.Brian Forde.