The National Republican Congressional Committee will be the first American political party to start accepting crypto contributions.
The Republicans’ House campaign arm confirmed the rumor and now faces an unsettled financial technology that will probably require some new regulations. The donations made with crypto will be collected via BitPay. The bitcoin payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, will convert the digital assets in US dollars. The contributions will then be stored in the committee’s account.
The National Republican Congressional Committee will never actually hold the cryptocurrency and this will allow them to accept donations of up to $10,000. This amount is much higher than the maximum value of $100 per year for digital currency transactions. This transfer won’t be allowed by the committee without first collecting identifying information about each person that has made the contributions.
“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, the NRCC chairman
Tom Emmer, the NRCC chairman is also a co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. He has been pushing the IRS to facilitate regulations on digital currency donations to charitable organizations. The Internal Revenue Service currently calls taxpayers to have an evaluator dictate the value of their crypto contributions, unlike the IRS guide, which lets taxpayers determine the charged amount according to free-market value.
“The current guidance by the IRS is, in many ways, arbitrary and in need of a correction. The market value of these cryptocurrencies is readily available on public bitcoin exchanges, so requiring an appraisal creates additional and unnecessary hurdles for those looking to donate to the charity of their choice via crypto; inconsistent regulation can and will have a chilling effect on the expanded use of digital currencies and financial technology in our society.”
Tom Emmer, the NRCC chairman
