FEC Approves Bitcoin In-Kind Donations for US Political Campaigns
The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has determined that political campaigns and political action committees (PACs) may accept bitcoin as a form of in-kind donation under current federal election laws. The FEC previously delayed a decision on a request for clarification from Make Your Laws (MYL) - an organisation that facilitates political contributions - which sought guidance on how it could go about accepting and using bitcoin donations, as well as general rules for handling digital currencies. In its draft report, the FEC tracks closely with comments made previously by the....
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The Federal Election Commission has released a draft of what could best be described as the ability to collect Bitcoin donations to political campaigns. The caveat? Campaigns would be require to convert the Bitcoin to fiat in order to spend it. This means campaigns will need to bring their Bitcoin donations to an exchange and convert to the U. S. Dollar, and would be required to count any fee charged by the exchange as part of the initial donation. "Bitcoin contributions should be valued as in-kind contributions. The amount of 2 an in-kind contribution is the usual and normal value of the....
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) will be ruling on contributions to US political campaigns on April 23. Since no law prevents using crypto-currency in political campaigns, people like Texas Governor Candidate Greg Abbott and the Libertarian party have already accepted donations via Bitcoin. Two draft advisory opinions from PAC Make Your Laws were posted on the FEC’s website available for public comment before today’s meeting. The first draft, posted April 16, more or less would allow political campaigns to accept Bitcoin not as cash donations but rather in-kind donations, use the....
Some good news from America, and (unsurprisingly) some more bad news from China. Find out what's happened in the world of digital currencies this past week. BitPay plans to display prices in bits: The Georgia-based merchant processor BitPay has announced plans to display BTC prices in bits. The company's move follows a community discussion about bitcoin's current denominations being too complex for mainstream users. Vaurum raises $4m in seed funding: Bitcoin trading platform Vaurum has raised $4m in funding from a group of investors including former AOL CEO Steve Case and venture....
In late April, the Federal Election Committee (FEC) began its rulings on how to regulate contributions to US political campaigns, if at all. The FEC was given two draft opinions by political action committee Make Your Laws (MYL). The verdict? Bitcoin is in. The FEC ruled 6-0 allowing Bitcoin donations to campaigns, although “MYL must sell the bitcoins it purchases and deposit the proceeds into its campaign depository before spending those funds,” according to an advisory memo to MYL. Donations cannot exceed $100. The value of the bitcoin donation is explicitly addressed throughout the....
The FEC published an opinion letter on November 7 in response to a request regarding the its stance on Bitcoin donations. The commission’s response to the request, made by a group called Conservative Action Fund, states that the group may accept Bitcoin donations, but those have to be exchanged for cash before they can be used as payment. Bitcoin, then, would not be treated the same as cash, but it could be used to support political campaigns. The letter states, “The Commission concludes that CAF may accept [B]itcoins as in-kind contributions under valuation, reporting, and disbursement....