Democratic US presidential candidate Eric Swalwell has decided to accept cryptocurrency donations for his campaign.
Swalwell is certainly not the leading candidate for the Democratic Party’s primaries, but with this move at least he seems to want to present himself as the most technology-oriented.
It should be remembered that the US seems to be focusing very much on becoming one of the most friendly places in the world towards the crypto sector, although there are still many hurdles.
Besides Swalwell there is already another candidate who accepts donations in cryptocurrencies, namely the Democrat Andrew Yang.
Swalwell’s initiative was made possible thanks to the collaboration with the blockchain organisation The White Company, which supplied Swalwell’s campaign with a dedicated page on their website where it is possible to send donations using bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, XLM, bitcoin SV, and the platform’s token White Standard (WSD).
To send a donation you must provide only name, phone number and address, as well as employment and employer.
Once donations are collected, the funds are converted into a stablecoin based on Stellar, so that Swalwell’s election committee can have instant access to the funds, resulting in transactions costing less than a penny and taking place in about 3 seconds. The choice of stablecoin also serves to preserve the value of donations collected by protecting them from the volatility of the crypto market.
According to The White Company, these donations to Swalwell are much faster than those to Yang, as donors only have to register with their own data and send the funds, using a wide range of cryptocurrencies.
Swalwell said:
“Blockchain can change the world, if we let it. So much of our public life now exists online, and there’s no reason to believe we can’t extend this further into our democracy and our economy – from exercising our right to vote, to how we look at cryptocurrency”.
Swalwell is only 38 years old, he was elected to the ranks of the Democratic Party in 2012 as a representative for the 15th Congressional District of California. He is also a member of the Standing Committee on Intelligence and the Judicial Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
Furthermore, he has already worked with cryptocurrencies in the past, as he recently signed a letter addressed to the Internal Revenue Service to obtain greater clarity on the tax rules in force for cryptocurrencies.
Elizabeth White, founder of The White Company, said:
“By enabling crypto donations, Swalwell not only makes it easier for [public] to support his campaign but also shows how he values the democratization of financial services to everyone, not just the wealthy”.
The elections for the selection of Donald Trump’s successor will be held in November 2020, and there are already several candidates who have proposed themselves. John McAfee appears to be still among the candidates of the libertarian party.
