The Federal Election Commission voted earlier this year to allow political candidates and committees to accept donations in bitcoin. But a week before Election Day, candidates who accept the popular virtual currency reported that their total bitcoin donations were small to nonexistent, though they remained optimistic about the currency’s political future. Candidates who have entered the Wild West frontier of accepting bitcoin donations said they have been unable to turn bitcoin into a major fundraising strategy — yet. Blaine Richardson, an independent House candidate running in Maine’s 2nd District, reported that he didn’t get any bitcoin contributions at all. “I think there is a future for it, but we just may be ahead of the curve right now,” he told The Huffington Post.
While the FEC’s decision was a big deal to tech enthusiasts, it was politically controversial. The volatile cryptocurrency rose to infamy partly as a way to anonymously buy drugs on the online black market Silk Road, and critics said that using bitcoin for donations was an easy way to dodge campaign finance laws. To address those concerns, commissioners recommended that bitcoin contributions be capped at $100 per person each election cycle, although the guidance left plenty of room for interpretation.
Jim Fulner, a libertarian Senate candidate in Michigan, said he’s received two bitcoin donations each worth “significantly less than $100.” Will Hammer, a libertarian House candidate in Virginia’s 6th District, has also received less than $100 in bitcoin donations, though he said that in the future, cryptocurrencies “have the possibility to make central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, obsolete.”
Full Article: Turns Out Nobody Wants To Donate To Politicians With Bitcoin.