North Carolina has forbidden politicians to accept cryptocurrency as donations to their political campaigns. Despite the fact that the Federal Election Commission authorized the candidates to accept donations in bitcoins as far back as 2014, US government funding agencies can establish their own rules for candidates.
US lawmaker Emmanuel Wilder asked North Carolina Electoral and Ethics Council early in 2018 whether he could accept cryptocurrency as contributions to his campaign. The Republican candidate who is running to Legislature wrote a letter in which he stressed that this would be an excellent opportunity to show that North Carolina is open to new emerging markets.
The director of North Carolina Executive Board, Westbrook Strach, refused. She believes that there is no certainty that legislators will be able to adequately control cryptocurrency donations. So the state became the second to officially ban crypto as a part of election campaigns. The first one was Kansas which also refused to accept donations in cryptocurrency in April 2017. While the first state, which allowed cryptocurrency donations for political campaigns in the United States, was New Hampshire. It has approved the digital contributions in 2014.
While North Carolina is still doubting cryptocurrencies, the Presidential candidate for the United States in 2020, Andrew Yang from the Democratic Party announced that his campaign will accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and any other token that is compatible with ERC20. To donate cryptocurrency, voters must confirm their voting rights in the United States, after which they will be sent an e-wallet address.
Earlier, the candidate from Libertarian party Phil Anderson who is running for Governor of Wisconsin in 2018 has also announced that he would accept donations for his campaign in Bitcoin.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. Crypto became the mainstream topic of debate among politicians. The recognition of cryptocurrencies at such level could help in the future for its wide adoption.
2. The anonymity of cryptocurrency as an instrument of donations is still preventing the regulators from mass acceptance. However, candidates are trying to solve this problem.