One of the few American states that already allows cryptocurrency payments to political campaign committees is Minnesota. However, under the state’s new regulations, gifts made in cryptocurrencies must be converted to dollars within five days. Price adjustments made during the five-day grace period must be noted individually in campaign funding reports.
Donation Conversion from Crypto to Dollars
The American state of Minnesota was one of the first in the union to permit cryptocurrency contributions to political campaign organizations. However, beneficiaries of crypto gifts must convert them to dollars within five days under the state’s new regulations, which went into force in July 2023.
Axios reported that the cryptocurrency donations have to be evaluated at the corresponding prices of the digital assets at the time they were made. The pricing must be updated individually in campaign funding reports if they vary during the five-day grace period.
The state’s Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board got questions from campaign teams asking about the steps for receiving cryptocurrency donations, which prompted Minnesota to decide to accept them. In response, the state’s political finance and transparency agency reportedly asked legislators to investigate into this, according to Jeff Sigurdson, CEO of the organization.
Although the government has approved cryptocurrency donations, receivers of such gifts are nonetheless hesitant due to the volatility of digital assets. Another major issue for the campaign committees is the identification of cryptocurrency donations.
Political figures are not in a rush to accept cryptocurrency donations
The story also quotes U.S. representative Ken Martin as saying that he is not actively pursuing donations in cryptocurrency.
Martin noted that accepting cryptocurrencies is “sort of an administrative nightmare” because there is so much that has to be done to authenticate it.
According to Minnesota Republican David Han, state officials will take any “lawful contribution to further our cause.” He asserted, however, that state lawmakers are not now very interested in obtaining money through cryptocurrency donations.
The new regulations, according to the article, could make it legal to accept political donations through Venmo and other mobile payment apps.