Donald Trump’s presidential campaign announced Tuesday that it would begin accepting cryptocurrency donations to build what it calls a “crypto army” leading up to Election Day.
The Trump campaign has launched a fundraising page that allows “any federally permissible donor the ability to give” to its political committees using any crypto asset accepted through the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.
The announcement highlights Trump’s stance as a crypto-friendly candidate and aims to attract a core group of young male voters increasingly interested in digital assets. This move coincided with the conclusion of Trump’s defense in his hush-money case in New York.
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that can be traded online without relying on the traditional banking system.
Trump’s campaign accepts a range of popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, and US Dollar Coin, as well as low-value coins favored by internet personalities, such as Shiba Inu Coin and Dogecoin. Billionaire Elon Musk is notably a fan of these latter two, traded on markets as DOGE and SHIB.
It remains unclear whether the Trump campaign will retain the crypto or immediately liquidate it, along with the potential fees involved in the process. While the campaign asserts its compliance with U.S. election laws, the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies can complicate the verification of donor identities.
Trump has previously received millions in cryptocurrency through his Trump Digital Trading Cards non-fungible token projects and his MAGA coin, which was released last August.
Julia Krieger, a spokeswoman for Coinbase, told The Associated Press that “crypto is nonpartisan and moves money forward because it’s cheaper and faster,” adding that the Coinbase platform is open to all candidates this election season.
A representative from President Joe Biden’s campaign did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on whether it will begin accepting cryptocurrency donations.
While some states prohibit cryptocurrency donations in state races under existing campaign finance laws, the Federal Election Commission allows committees to receive bitcoin as contributions. A 2014 advisory opinion from the commission concluded that bitcoin is “money or anything of value” within the meaning of the law, and political committees should value the contribution based on the market value of bitcoin at the time it is received.
The presidential campaign for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. currently accepts bitcoin donations.
In traditional fundraising, Biden and the Democratic National Committee announced Monday that they raised over $51 million in April, significantly less than the $76 million that Trump and the Republican Party reported for the same period.
