Kansas bill may limit individual crypto donations at $100

The Kansas legislature is looking into a new bill limiting individual crypto donations to $100 for elections. Under the campaign finance act, the bill will also mandate the disclosure of addresses and donors’ names.

A call to regulate crypto donations

Kansas lawmakers are proposing a new bill to put a $100 cap on individual crypto donations going into political campaigns.

The amendment will show recipients obtain the contributor’s full name and physical address. In addition, the crypto contributions will only be accepted if transacted on a U.S. crypto payment processor.

As per the document, if the bill passes, they will impose the limit based on the fair market value when the payment processor receives the crypto.

Once received, there should be an immediate conversion of the crypto into U.S. dollars and then deposited in the designated campaign account. Moreover, it will force political bodies to enhance due diligence in processing crypto donations.

Notably, Kansas has never had legislation regarding crypto donations to primary or general elections. The U.S. state asked campaigns back in 2017 to refrain from taking in crypto donations.

At the time, the Kansas Government Commission mentioned that they were studying the issue. Then, on Jan. 25, they introduced the campaign finance act.

Crypto funding channels illicit donations

Crypto donations have been a significant player in U.S. election funding. During the 2022 election cycle, crypto worth $580,000 was donated to various political campaigns, accounting for those that reported the contributions to the Federal Election Commission.

Other bodies, such as the Swedish electoral body, have continuously criticized the issue of cryptos in elections. They claimed that the nature of cryptos, their anonymity to be exact, could undermine the work assigned to oversight agencies.

Hence, illicit donations could easily make their way into the system.

Meanwhile, the FTX collapse has brought more scrutiny to the crypto industry, especially since reports revealed that its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, previously made considerable donations to U.S. politicians’ campaigns.