U.S. Election Commission Considers Crypto Mining Permissible for Candidates Support

According to the draft published by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), U.S. voters will be able to provide their computers for crypto mining purposes as a means to support the election of the political candidates. Funds raised this way will be also used to support political committees.

The draft released by FEC was following the request published by a startup OsiaNetwork LLC in September, which was originally seeking to define crypto mining activities as ‘volunteering’ in a political campaign context. However, SEC did not approve it at this time.

According to the conclusion outlined by FEC in the draft, the proposal was described as “permissible,” however it cannot fall under the “volunteer internet activities exception,” since it would result in contributions from both the individuals and a legal business entity, which in this case is OsianNetwork LLC. The SEC further emphasized that the contributions provided through “computing power” in the mining pool will equal the monetary contributions to the political campaign, done by both the business entity and the crypto miners.

The final vote on the proposed draft will take place in a month from now, on December 19, 2018. If approved, it can open the whole new era in politics, where blockchain and crypto would have a direct impact and involvement in the process.