n A Dublin-headquartered startup has partnered with the Irish Red Cross to use blockchain technology in a new app that improves transparency for charitable donationsn
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Federal Election Commission Gives Green Light for Political Mining Pool Donations
n nn nn The U.S. Federal Election Commission FEC has given tacit permission for mining pools to donate to political campaigns.The FEC released a memo on their website on November 13, 2018, to provide background information to a formal meeting that would take place on November 15. In it, they addressed a recent request filed by OsiaNetwork LLC for the FECs advisory opinion.OsiaNetwork filed this request on September 10, 2018, asking for confirmation on the permissi
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Survey: 60% of US Voters Support Bitcoin Donations in Federal Elections
A poll conducted by IT firm Clovr has found that 60 percent of participants who are eligible voters are in favor of legalizing cryptocurrency donations in federal elections in the U.S.
A number of states have already restricted or ruled against such donations and the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) accepts cryptocurrency as in-kind contributions limited to 0.
60 Percent of Eligible Voters Want Crypto Donations Under Same Rules as US Dollars
Clovr surveyed 1,023 registered U.S. voters for their take on how digital currency could affect the political process.
It found that participants want cryptocurrency and U.S. currency to be treated the same in federal elections, with only 21 percent of respondents feeling otherwise.
The current federal law accepts both U.S. dollars and cryptocurrencies as acceptable forms of political donations, but while USD can be received in checks, cash, and credit card transactions, cryptocurrency donations are considered as an in-kind contribution limited to 0.
“From a political perspective, the overriding issues of cryptocurrency acceptance are the same ones the federal government and private sector are still wrestling with, namely value and security.”
Clovr asked participants whether digital currency is secure enough to be used for political purposes and found 54 percent saying “Yes,” 26 percent saying “No,” and 21 percent unsure. Republicans (63 percent) showed more confidence towards crypto than Democrats (52 percent), but both political affiliations were clear about their attitude towards the issue.
On financial stability, 42 percent of participants answered “Yes” whereas 35 percent answered “No” and 23 percent were unsure. The majority of Republicans were confident of cryptocurrency’s stability for political purposes, but crypto-friendly Democrats lagged behind with 42 percent, almost tied with the “No” respondents.
Those who would contribute larger amounts of cryptocurrency donations if allowed amounted to 22 percent of Republicans, 16 percent of Democrats, and 12 percent of independents. The survey also asked participants how more likely they are to contribute if they were allowed to make donations in cryptocurrency.
“An average of just under 25 percent of eligible voters in our survey indicated they would be more likely to contribute to political campaigns if cryptocurrency donations were an option,” it added.
Foreign interference, however, is currently a serious issue in American politics and respondents showed concerns about the role of cryptocurrency donations in the political system. Of those asked, 60 percent said foreign interference would be more common if cryptocurrency contributions were allowed, with only 15 percent disagreeing with that statement. Democrats (66 percent) are the most concerned, followed by Republicans (58 percent) and independents (56 percent).
“64 percent of people reported being extremely familiar with cryptocurrency believed if it was used in the policital system, it would make foreign interference in elections more common”.
Of those who believe cryptocurrency donations would increase unscrupulous activity in the U.S. political system, this accounted for 62 percent. Additionally, 64 percent of participants believe politicians would illegally take advantage of looser regulations on cryptocurrency donations, and 56 percent feel the same about political parties.
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Binance Reveals Results of Crypto Donations for Flood Relief in Japan
n Crypto exchange Binance has revealed that it raised .41 million in crypto within its West Japan Disaster Relief charity projectn
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More Universities Forced to Grapple with Logistics of Accepting Crypto Donations
As more and more graduates of prestigious universities go on to make a name for themselves in the rapidly expanding cryptocurrency space, the institutions where they learned their skills are increasingly on the receiving end of donations made using digital assets. However, many universities are completely clueless as to what to do with the funds gifted to them.
Are Cryptocurrency Donations More Trouble Than Their Worth?
The list of higher education institutions receiving donations in digital assets such as bitcoin continues to grow each year. However, not all universities are keen on accepting unfamiliar assets. Whereas you or I would be eternally grateful for such a gift, most endowment managers have no idea how to handle cryptocurrencies.
Firstly, there is the matter of setting up a suitable wallet to accept digital assets. Then there is the issue of selling them as quickly as possible. The volatility associated with crypto markets is something many endowment managers seek to avoid. Rather than grapple with these relatively basic facets of digital currency use, donations are frequently rejected.
According to a report in Bloomberg, in the US the University of Puget Sound, the University of California at Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell University have all successfully taken undisclosed numbers of donations in cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, the highly prestigious Harvard University is yet to accept gifted digital cash. Nor have fellow ivy leaguers Yale – although a spokesperson for the institution did state that it had tested the process but it was an idea not being actively pursued.
One of the earliest known examples of a higher education institution accepting a cryptocurrency donation was that of blockchain wallet service provider co-founder Nicolas Cary. He gifted Puget Sound 14.5 BTC in 2014. After a change of their endowments policy and several lengthy conversations about the logistics of accepting such an unconventional donation, the university relented and took the bitcoin. They, of course, quickly liquidated it quickly and missed out on around ,000 at today’s prices.
That said, it seems curious that Yale has turned down donations made via digital assets. Its highly successful endowment manager, David Swensen , has been linked with investments in two funds focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
It is not at all uncommon for universities to reject non-conventional donations. Bloomberg state that all manner of weird and wonderful gifts have been turned down over the years. These have included timeshares, paintings, and even areas of wetland. If the process of liquidating the asset is not quick and familiar, the endowments manager will simply deem it more trouble than it is worth. Evidently, some institutions feel that this is the case with bitcoin, ether, or any other digital coin they might receive.
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Charitable Organisations Increasingly Receiving Donations in Cryptocurrency
Charities are increasingly accepting of cryptocurrencies as donations. This potentially exposes them to the same level of risks and rewards as those investing in the space.
Charities Take Cryptocurrency Risk Giving Wealthy Donors Tax Breaks
Thanks to nuances in U.S. tax legislation, many individuals that have been newly enriched by cryptocurrency are favouring making donations to charity in cryptocurrencies.
By giving assets rather than hard cash, donors can get deductions on their tax returns along with the bonus of not having to pay the government for the capital gains made.
The meteoric rise of Bitcoin and other cryptos over the last few years has meant that many individuals are sitting on massive capital gains. The above bonuses incentivises them to donate the digital assets themselves to the charity, rather than converting them to fiat and writing a cheque.
Perhaps the biggest holder of cryptocurrency donations is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation – an organisation that unites donors with various charities.
According to an article in International Business Times, the foundation stated in its annual financial report that it held almost .5 billion in digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether.
A similar group, Fidelity Charitable, also stated that they were receiving increasing amounts of digital currency during 2017. The organisation is currently the number one U.S. charity in terms of the amount it receives in donations each year.
Joining these massive organisations are several smaller charitable groups, along with charities that focus exclusively on cryptocurrency donations.
However, it is not just through direct donations that charities are getting exposure to cryptocurrencies. Some organisations are encouraging people to lend their idle computing power to mine digital assets.
Unicef Australia is one such charity. Their Hopepage allows visitors to mine Monero in their browser with the proceeds going directly to the projects supported by the group. Likewise, Change.org has created a screensaver that mines cryptocurrency for charity when they are away from their computers.
The report in International Business Times warns that these organisations are just as at risk as investors in the emerging asset class. The publication goes on to state that since financial reports are only published once a year, the scale of the damage done by market crashes such as that of 2018 is largely unknown.
There is concern that many charities will have received donations during the latter part of 2017 and, lacking the knowledge of how to turn these into a currency they are more familiar with, have since lost much of the value that their original donors wanted to give.
Despite potential losses, with the strong incentive to give assets and digital currencies as donations, the trend is unlikely to subside anytime soon. This has allowed the likes of Fidelity Charitable and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to specialise as middlemen between donors and the causes they are aiding – serving as repositories for a range of assets, both digital and otherwise.
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California Campaign Watchdog Bans Crypto Donations to Candidates
The post California Campaign Watchdog Bans Crypto Donations to Candidates appeared first on DCEBrief.
California’s Campaign Watchdog Bans Political Donations with Bitcoin
The Fair Political Practices Commission, California’s campaign watchdog arm, has voted 3-1 to ban political donations with any cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, because of transparency issues.
The vote follows similar decisions made by other states in the country such as South Carolina. Others, like Colorado and Montana, allow cryptocurrency donations with restrictions.
In May 2014, the Federal Elections Commission stated that political campaigns could accept a 0 contribution limit per person and per electoral cycle, but didn’t address larger bitcoin contributions.
California Ban on Bitcoin Donations Follows Example of South Carolina
The Fair Political Practices Commission in California made four different proposals before going to a vote, with the first one being the total prohibition of any contribution in cryptocurrency, the Associated Press reported.
The second option would allow cryptocurrency contributions as cash contributions, limited to contributions of less than 0 from any source, and requiring cryptocurrency. The Political Reform Act (“Act”) already prohibits persons from making, and committees from receiving, cash contributions of 0 or more.
The Option Three would permit digital currency contributions as in-kind contributions, but requiring a conversion to cash upon receipt and deposited into the campaign bank account. The fourth option intended to allow in-kind contributions in cryptocurrency without conversion to cash. Furthermore, committees making contributions would maintain a separate cryptocurrency account and make expenditures from the account.
In April 2018, the House Legislative Ethics Committee of South Carolina decided that the State’s law “does not include “virtual” or “digital currency” in its definition of contribution.” The watchdog thus recommended that only legislation could change the state’s campaign donation practices.
“The Committee determined that it is not permissible for candidates for and Members of the South Carolina House of Representatives to receive campaign contributions in the form of Bitcoin or other digital currency. The Committee notes that there are many issues that need to be resolved regarding the acceptance of Bitcoin as a contribution to a political campaign for House office.”
In early 2015, the state of Tennessee changed the definition of “contribution” to include “digital currency” in order to officially allow political donations with Bitcoin et al. In August 2018, Oregon adopted a rule permitting Bitcoin contributions. In Montana, Bitcoin is accepted for political donation purposes, but it must be valued and converted to U.S. dollars or used to purchase some service or product.
The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission stated that “the digital currency known as Bitcoin is too secretive to be allowed as a form of campaign contributions in state and local elections.” Washington D.C. accepts cryptocurrency as an in-kind contribution to be reported as received at the date it is liquidated into U.S. dollars. Colorado formally accepts cryptocurrency as contribution since July 2018 “up to the acceptable limit for a cash or coin contribution [0].”
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Campaign Watchdog in California Bans Political Donations in Bitcoin
n California campaign watchdog raises questions of crypto transparency, bans Bitcoin from political donationsn
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California Bans Bitcoin Donations in Political Campaigns
Candidates for public office in California may not receive donations in cryptocurrency, the state’s political watchdog has ruled.
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