The National Republican Congressional Committee has announced that it will start accepting campaign donations in crypto. This was reported by Axios on Wednesday.
This announcement makes the party the first national party to start accepting cryptocurrency campaign contributions. Individual political candidates have accepted donations in cryptocurrency in the past. But political parties have never accepted them, until now. Bent on retaking the House in the coming elections next year, the GOP hopes the technology will help them do so.
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The NRCC is the arm of the GOP that supports the election of Republicans into the House of Representatives. It does this through direct financial contributions to candidates and Republican Party organizations. The campaign arm of the GOP also carries out voter registration, as well as education and turnout programs
It provides technical and research assistance for Republican candidates and Party organizations.
How Crypto Donations Will Be Received
The NRCC announced that it will use payment processor BitPay to process donations. This means that the NRCC itself will not handle any cryptocurrencies.
Donations will not go directly to the NRCC but it will go to BitPay.
BitPay will convert the donated crypto to dollars and then remit the amount to the NRCC.
The FEC has said that crypto contributions to political parties will be capped at $100 per individual. Using BitPay will allow the NRCC to receive up to $10,000 per individual a year. The partnership with BitPay is to make the donation process smoother.
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This means that the NRCC does not have to worry about converting the crypto they receive. They’re more just accepting donations from the sale of the crypto donated.
The party is hopeful that they would be able to use this technology to support Republican candidates in the House.
“We are focused on pursuing every avenue possible to further our mission of stopping Nancy Pelosi’s socialist agenda and retaking the House majority, and this innovative technology will help provide Republicans the resources we need to succeed.”
– Tom Emmer, Chairman of the NRCC.
Transparency Of Crypto Donations
The Federal Electoral Committee has expressed concerns over the anonymity associated with cryptocurrencies. Mentioning the tensions between federal transparency and disclosure rules. Worried that crypto contributions might compromise this.
Total crypto market capitalization and dominance | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
In response to this, the National Republican Congressional Committee has said that it will diligently gather all identifying information. Making sure that all crypto donations are transparent.
Rand Paul was the first presidential candidate to accept donations in crypto. He ran as a Libertarian Republican in 2015.
This was after the FEC had voted unanimously to allow Bitcoin donations to political campaigns.
Feature image from Decrypt, chart from TradingView.com
