Republican Senator Rand Paul is now the first presidential candidate to accept contributions in the form of Bitcoin. The digital currency is new territory for campaign finance law.
Richard Hasen is a law and political science professor at the University of California-Irvine.
He says he doesn’t think Bitcoin will provide a significant source of funding for Paul’s campaign, but he’s not surprised the Republican candidate has chosen to accept Bitcoin. "I think it’s more of a novelty and it certainly fits in with Senator Paul’s image to try to be tech-savvy and there is a kind of a libertarian edge to Bitcoin. So, I think it is quite a natural fit for him to be the one to do it." he said.
But, there are some issues. Bitcoin makes it easier to contribute to a political campaign anonymously and
Hasen says Paul’s campaign will have to rely on donors to provide information, since Bitcoin is an untraceable and unregulated currency.
Hasen says Paul’s campaign is also going to have to make sure contributions aren’t from foreign countries.
The Paul campaign is only accepting up to 100 dollars in Bitcoin contributions per individual.
