California regulator will revisit long-running ban on crypto donations on May 19

Published at: May 16, 2022

A California state regulator may be looking at overturning a ban on cryptocurrency donations to political campaigns which has been in effect since 2018.

According to its May 2022 agenda, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, or FPPC, has scheduled a “pre-notice discussion” on Thursday on the use of cryptocurrencies for campaign contributions in the state, opening the topic to public comment before officially revisiting it. The commission said it will be considering drafting amendments to its regulations requiring that “no contribution may be made or received in cryptocurrency.”

In September 2018, the FPPC voted to ban both sending and receiving crypto contributions for political campaigns in the state of California, due to concerns the donations "might be utilized to circumvent contribution limits and prohibitions, or by foreign entities to contribute to campaigns." FPPC’s communications director Jay Wierenga told Cointelegraph that the commission “look[s] at trends and [tries] to stay ahead of them,” citing a March opinion in which its legal division said a campaign selling nonfugible tokens to raise funds must count "the entire amount received” as a “reportable contribution."

“This has been on our radar since late last year,” said Wierenga. “Crypto [...] obviously has grown in usage and visibility since 2019. So the Commission wants to review it and determine if any changes should be made, or not.”

According to Wierenga, the current ban on crypto political campaign contributions has not affected candidates running for office in California at a federal level, just state and local. For example, Aarika Rhodes, an elementary school teacher running to represent California’s 32nd congressional district currently held by Democrat Brad Sherman, has openly called for her supporters to donate Bitcoin (BTC) via the Lighting:

Our campaign has officially adopted Lighting for campaign contributions.⚡️This revolutionary technology creates accessibility and looks towards the future. I am excited to provide this option to our supporters across all 50 states. #Bitcoin

— Aarika for CA-32 (@AarikaRhodes) November 30, 2021

Related: Crypto-focused PAC has used $9M to support Democratic candidates since January

Commissions and other governing bodies in U.S. states are responsible for determining whether to enforce bans on crypto political donations for state and local campaigns. South Carolina’s House of Representatives ethics committee said in 2018 that the definition of a campaign contribution did not include cryptocurrency, and Colorado capped the amount of donated in crypto to the same levels as fiat.

Tags
Regulation
Cryptocurrencies
Politics
Donations
California
Related Posts
Wisconsin Assembly candidate is accepting Bitcoin donations again
A candidate for the Wisconsin State Assembly is challenging a state regulator by accepting donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). Phil Anderson, a real estate broker and entrepreneur, now accepts cryptocurrency donations for his Assembly campaign. According to an official statement by Anderson, crypto donations are available via major cryptocurrency payment service provider BitPay. Anderson said that his campaign is accepting crypto donations despite regulatory uncertainty from the Wisconsin Ethics Commission. Back in 2018, Anderson accepted Bitcoin donations in his campaign for governor of Wisconsin despite the WEC finding them a “serious challenge” to compliance with state law. According to …
Regulation / Sept. 21, 2020
Congressional candidate seeking to unseat anti-crypto Brad Sherman is accepting contributions via Lightning
Aarika Rhodes, a Democrat running to represent California's 30th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, has begun to accept campaign contributions in Bitcoin using the Lightning Network. In a Tuesday message to her more than 21,000 Twitter followers, Rhodes said her campaign website had started using Lighting for campaign contributions in addition to the BitPay options for Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). According to the congressional candidate, the move was aimed at making her campaign more accessible for voters, who will consider Rhodes in California’s primary election in June 2022 and potentially the general election later that …
Regulation / Nov. 30, 2021
Crypto-focused PAC has used $9M to support Democratic candidates since January
Protect Our Future, a political action committee set up in January, with backers including FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, has spent more than $9 million to support candidates running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to expenditures reported to the U.S. Federal Election Commission, as of April 14, Protect Our Future has used $9,024,317 toward supporting the campaigns of Carrick Flynn, Lucia McBath, Shontel Brown and Jasmine Crockett to represent separate districts in Oregon, Georgia, Ohio and Texas, respectively. McBath and Brown are incumbent candidates, while Crockett currently represents Texas’ 100th District in the state’s House of Representatives. …
Regulation / April 18, 2022
Crypto advocate mounts challenge to longtime Silicon Valley Congresswoman
In terms of policy, Greg Tanaka calls himself a legislator for the digital age and possibly the most pro-crypto person running in this election cycle. A member of the Palo Alto City Council, he has set his sights on the United States House of Representatives seat for California’s 16th, the Silicon Valley district. In an interview with Cointelegraph, the self-described nerd exuded enthusiasm and spoke with an unwavering smile about crypto and the financial system. Legal DAOs and crypto tax holidays “It’s the first form of truly better money,” Tanaka said of crypto. “More benefit goes to the people creating …
Regulation / April 26, 2022
Kansas state lawmakers look to cap crypto political donations at $100
Lawmakers in the Kansas House of Representatives have introduced a bill proposing to amend the legislature’s rules on political campaign donations. According to the bill, no person would be allowed to make or accept crypto contributions of more than $100 for any political candidate in the state’s primary or general election. For donations under $100, the receiver would need to “immediately convert” the crypto to U.S. dollars, not use the crypto for expenditures, and not HODL the funds. The proposed bill included provisions that seemed to be aimed at mitigating foreign contributions to elections in Kansas, by requiring personal information …
Regulation / Feb. 15, 2023