Posted on 05/09/2014 10:28:02 AM PDT by Theoria
The Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted to allow political committees to accept Bitcoin donations and outlined the ways that the virtual currency can be used by federally regulated campaigns.
Responding to a request from a political action committee, the commissioners unanimously approved an advisory opinion that defined Bitcoins, which allows for online transactions without going through a bank or other third party, as “money or anything of value” — in essence, cash or an in-kind contribution.
They also imposed some restrictions, ruling that Bitcoin donations will be capped at a cash equivalent of $100 per person per cycle, with the value determined at the time of the donation, and that a complete accounting of name, address and employer must accompany the donation.
Committees can liquidate a Bitcoin contribution immediately, or they can choose to keep it as an investment, in the same way they do with stocks and bonds. Since the value of the virtual currency can fluctuate suddenly, the opportunity for a windfall is real, but is growing rarer as it stabilizes.
The opinion also allows committees to buy Bitcoins on the open market, but prohibits them from using the coins to pay for goods or services. They must be liquidated into United States currency before being spent.
“Clearly, for me it’s significant that the requester has only asked for $100 in Bitcoin contributions,” said Ann M. Ravel, the vice chairwoman of the commission. “And so it is good that we can give some guidance to the community in respect to that amount of money that is not going to raise some of the bigger issues that might come with Bitcoin transactions.”
Lee Goodman, the commission’s chairman, released a separate statement explaining why he voted yes and laying out the remaining issues.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No longer will Europeans and Asians interested in American democracy have to buy prepaid debit cards to make contributions....
This has Soros written all over it. Color me suspicious. The left’s expertise is stealing elections.
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