{"id":273982,"date":"2020-09-22T12:08:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T16:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=273982"},"modified":"2021-09-03T03:44:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T07:44:03","slug":"wisconsin-state-candidate-launches-bitcoin-donation-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/wisconsin-state-candidate-launches-bitcoin-donation-platform","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin\u2019s prominent role in politics is coming to the limelight once more as a state assembly candidate in Wisconsin launches a Bitcoin donations page. <\/span>Earlier this month, Phil Anderson, a candidate for Wisconsin\u2019s State Assembly, announced that he would be accepting campaign donations in Bitcoin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Try at Bitcoin Donations<\/b><\/h2>\n

In a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> to the effect, the Republican candidate explained that his campaign had set up a Bitcoin donations channel through a partnership with crypto payment processor BitPay. The former real estate broker and businessman highlighted his belief that Bitcoin is a form of money, explaining that nothing should restrict him from using the asset to generate funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson’s resolve comes after a contested Bitcoin campaign effort back in 2018. At the time, he had run for Governor of the state on the Libertarian platform and was one of the first politicians to accept Bitcoin in donations openly.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the spring of 2018, the Wisconsin Libertarian Party had asked the state’s Ethics Commission to clarify if it was legal to use Bitcoin for political donations. The Commission passed the matter to the state legislature, explaining that allowing crypto donations could challenge its ability to ensure financial compliance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the Commission\u2019s concerns, however, Anderson\u2019s campaign moved ahead with the donation campaign. <\/span>Speaking<\/span><\/a> with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Anderson pointed out that his defiance didn\u2019t mean he was thumbing his nose at the Commission. However, he believed that they would still be abiding with the law by accepting bitcoin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not allow the lack of appropriate interpretation of the current statute [to] affect the First Amendment rights of those who want to show support and contribute. I have no faith in the Assembly to handle this fairly nor expeditiously,” he said to the news source.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that he’s running for public office again, Anderson is sticking to his guns. He has also openly disagreed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission on their crypto interpretation and its perceived risks. In part, he communicated his belief that cryptocurrencies are a legitimate form of money, adding that he would push for progressive crypto laws in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have the choice as to how they contribute, and it\u2019s my intention to honor those choices. If my opponent or the Ethics Commission are interested in challenging me, I\u2019m ready for a fight,\u201d his statement asserted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bitcoin in Politics<\/b><\/h2>\n

While Anderson appears defiant in his belief, he won\u2019t be the first pro-crypto person running for public office. Most notable amongst the crypto advocates has been Andrew Yang, the Democrat candidate who ran for President last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporters of Yang \u2014 a philanthropist and tech entrepreneur \u2014 launched a PAC called the Humanity Forward Fund (Humanity FWD) that accepted Bitcoin donations in collaboration with the Lightning Network. Seth Cohen, the fund\u2019s founder, said that they hadn\u2019t determined whether the contributions would be converted into fiat. It\u2019s also unclear if Yang had anything to do directly with the fund or not. Sadly, he didn\u2019t go too far in the polls, and he <\/span>dropped out<\/span><\/a> of the presidential race in February.<\/span><\/p>\n

Humanity FWD is also not the first crypto-centric PAC to be launched. In fact, <\/span>data<\/span><\/a> from the Center for Public Integrity showed that about $750,000 in donations were given to politicians between 2017 and 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin\u2019s prominent role in politics is coming to the limelight once more as a state assembly candidate in Wisconsin launches a Bitcoin donations page. Earlier […]<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1770,"featured_media":273987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9201,5439,11424,11446],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform\u00a0 - InsideBitcoins.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Republican candidate Phil Anderson explained that his campaign had set up a Bitcoin donations channel through a partnership with BitPay.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Republican candidate Phil Anderson explained that his campaign had set up a Bitcoin donations channel through a partnership with BitPay.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideBitcoins.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-22T16:08:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-03T07:44:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/1_UscFoYwcifhspadbH-JxQA.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1023\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jimmy Aki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adejimi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jimmy Aki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jimmy Aki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a66ff7827d8bed054aa6be4e9d8c1dad\"},\"headline\":\"Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-22T16:08:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-03T07:44:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Andrew Yang\",\"Bitpay\",\"Legislation\",\"Wisconsin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"More Crypto News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982#primaryimage\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273982\",\"name\":\"Wisconsin State Candidate Launches Bitcoin Donation Platform\u00a0 - 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