Bill Powers Comments on Political Donations Made Via Cryptocurrency

03.17.2022
Bloomberg

Bill Powers was quoted in the Bloomberg story “Crypto’s Preferred Currency for Political Donations Isn’t Bitcoin. It’s Dollars.” The article examines how despite the fact that cryptocurrency companies and their executives are making efforts to wield influence inside the beltway as their industry grows, they are hampered from using their own digital assets to do so when they make a federal political contribution. Bloomberg reports that “industry insiders gave $7.3 million to political campaigns and committees in 2021 through the end of January, but almost all of that money came in old-fashioned dollars.” The story adds that only $580,000 worth of cryptocurrency was donated to political committees in the current election cycle.

Discussing the challenges with donating via cryptocurrency, Bill noted, “There’s a lot of administrative hassles in doing it,” given that FEC rules also require far more record keeping and disclosure for contributions in cryptocurrencies.

Bill added, “As the digital assets become more familiar in the wider economy they will be more familiar in politics, too…Crypto is becoming more commonplace, and as the campaign season heats up with outside groups making big ad buys, we’re going to see the use of cryptocurrency to make political contributions intensify.”

Bill served as Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement for the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and advises emerging technology companies, PACs, nonprofits and candidates as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of election and lobbying laws.

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