US Congressional Candidate Announces He Will Accept Bitcoin Donations

in bitcoin •  7 years ago  (edited)

The World is Changing.

Recently, Patrick Nelson announced that he will be accepting Bitcoin donations for his candidacy as congressman for New York's 21st Congressional District.

Patrick Nelson is a former New York State Legislature staffer.

Not sure if this announcement is because he truly believes that it is the way of the future or if he is just trying to hitch his wagon on the immense popularity it is experiencing right now.

Either way, it was probably a brilliant idea.

Now he will be known as the forward looking candidate in people's minds. 

Specifically Nelson had this to say regarding his reasoning behind the decision:

"Our goal in this campaign has been and continues to be bringing 21st century policies to the 21st District. That means we embrace innovation and new technologies like the Blockchain and Bitcoin."

Some details on Nelson...

Patrick Nelson is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a former staffer for New York Democratic Assemblyman Phil Steck of Colonie.

He was a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaign in 2016.

Nelson will be running against Tedra Cobb and Emily Martz for the Democratic Nomination for Congress in 2018.

Bitcoin's classification?

The FEC announced the approval of Bitcoin donations and labeled them as in-kind donations. Which means as an in-kind donation, campaigns have 10 days from the receipt of Bitcoins until they have to be put into the official campaign depository.

However, currently the FEC is debating whether they should change that classification of Bitcoin, which was reached in mid 2016.

The FEC is currently contemplating if they should treat Bitcoin donations the same as cash going forward.

Bitcoin = Cash?! 

You don't say...

The fact that they are even having that discussion is great news for Bitcoin owners and shows just how far we have come in just one year in terms of adoption. 

The world is changing indeed.

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Stay informed my friends.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/pro-bitcoin-us-congressional-candidate-starts-accepting-bitcoin-donations-for-2018

Image Sources:

https://www.coindesk.com/congressional-candidate-now-accepting-bitcoin-donations-2018-election/

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It's great to see crypto getting increasingly more attention. But I really don't see the "Bernie" crowd as being a good pick for the future of crypto. This guy will accept bitcoin donations, then use the office to increase taxes on your investments.

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Thanks for sharing this thought provoking idea with us, can't wait to see the results of what will happen with him accepting Bitcoins and, especially what he'll be doing with it!?!

Namaste :)

Indeed, lets hope he doesnt liquidate back to fiat!

Interesting that he is linked to Bernie. Isn't Bernie the socialist dude who thinks it is a crime for everyone else to be rich, except for his friends and his three mansions?

I noticed the same damn thing. "Government should control everything, but I'll take cryptocurrency if it helps me."

Yo ,
Very interesting read, Thanks you for sharing it!

@jrcornel its really very intersting to see first that bitcoins are acceptable method of accepting political donations. Which means the donor would assume anonymity. But the more interesting is the fact that the regulators call it as in-kind donation. So does that mean bitcoin isn't equivalent to cash? Oh ! Thats new finding

In their hearts, they know Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) is the future but the traditional thinking (controlling everything) hinders.

That would be the classification currently, however, that is being rethought as we speak. :)

I think it is a great move by the candidate to put this out so the FEC has to think fast about their classification. With the BTC high profile now because of the run up and the fork he can also capitalize on free publicity like he is getting right here! It's a win-win for him and he would have my vote.

Agree. Smart move on his part and if the FEC were to classify it as cash, it would put pressure on other organizations to follow suit.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

wow, very interesting read

It's good that he has a technical background and understands the technology, but being a Bernie supporter is kind of a turnoff. Bernie got screwed in the election by Clinton and he still told his supportes to vote for that wretched woman. Can't forgive him for that!

I'm happy to see important political figures treating bitcoin seriously. It is far overdue!

So am I. That last part where the FEC is considering changing it's classification of Bitcoin to that of Cash is pretty big news in my opinion...

Am I the only one noticing the contradiction of a Bernie-inspired "government should control everything" politician soliciting a cryptocurrency?


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Well, that's a great news. If nothing, it does moves the eyeballs to Bitcoin and himself. A smart politician I would say!!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I think bitcoin stays on the moon.. Will steem rise more in octobre??

Waaoooooooo!!!!
I love seeing bitcoin grow

This is great to see. Bitcoin is just getting started!

Nice post

Interesting, always love to see bitcoin receiving publicity :)

Interesante tu articulo...

Good to see some forward looking politicians emerging and accepting Bitcoin. When I heard this one was a Bernie Sanders fan it made me wonder how many .027 BTC donations he may be getting with Bitcoin? Times certainly are changing!

While I think it's amazing to start such a trend, I believe he may also be trying to win over votes with cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

la confianza en la criptomoneda en ascenso!

This post has received a 0.15 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @upboat.

Thanks for sharing

Can you help me abaout steemt

if this is later associated with corruption this will not be good for the image of crypto because they sometimes try to associate crypto with dark stuff as you know

People can buy drugs, weapons, and any other "dark net" commodity with US dollars, does that make US dollars bad?

Great in this way many political people will get interest in bitcoin, which will be a good sign for BC.

Go ahead, stay in the side, I'm

This won't be the last and the debates on campaign financing just take another twist, i wait to see how this one unfolds

Can you flollow me

https://steemit.com/@amir1221

Good information brother, as always I follow all your post, a big greeting from @joserc.vzla

great job likee it and upvoted

That's a great start by Patrick Nelson to adopt Bitcoin transactions.. Great initiative..

Amazing news! As a Bernie supporter, I will send him some BTC for sure! Hopefully Tulsi Gabbard can do something similar! TULSI 2020

The question is...who is this guy really and who does he really work for?

Is it legal to receive bitcoin when it's not possible to know if the senders are or are not US citizens ?

Awesome to see a young candidate finally trying to adopt forward thinking and 21st century ideals!

Interesting post!

Nothing in it, Bitcoin is convertible to USD, and the move is populist (not in the (globalist vs populist sense, but in the original sense of the word).

The most interesting part is the very last paragraph. The FEC considering changing their classification of Bitcoin donations...

it would be nice to see politicians using crypto currencies as a way to be transparent on how they spend all their money since with the open ledger we can keep track of where every cent goes. Imagine if a system like this was used nationwide we'd save billions in waste and corruption.