This could be the first time bitcoin’s second-tier solution, the Lightning Network, has officially influenced a U.S. presidential election.
About a dozen Bitcoin supporters supporting Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang launched a crypto-friendly super PAC on Thursday, according to Coindesk.com. The Humanity Forward Fund committee will be able to accept payments from the Lightning Wallet because it is equipped with an OpenNode payment processor.
“Super PACs obviously want to take in as many donations as possible. But at the same time, there will be opportunities for individual supporters who want to donate small amounts to Yang. “OpenNode CEO Afnan Rahman told CoinDesk. “It allows donors to use all of the money for donations rather than miner fees.”
The PAC will only accept bitcoin donations for the first 21 days, according to its founder, Seth Cohen. Legal tender donations will also be accepted thereafter. The group has yet to decide whether to convert bitcoin into legal tender.
Managing bitcoin donations is also challenging, Cohen says, because “the fact that it’s possible to make a profit or loss creates additional regulatory requirements.” This would require the PAC to keep a record of the bitcoin exchange rate at the time of each donation.
Even so, Cohen says OpenNode’s 1% processing fee is much lower than credit cards, which charge four times as much.
As a crypto-friendly presidential candidate, Yang announced his official commitment to the crypto industry on his campaign website to “promote the provision of clear legislation for the cryptocurrency industry.” He even spoke at the Consensus conference in New York earlier this year.
“Yang’s forward-looking policies and his views on bitcoin seem interesting,” Cohen said. “We hope to raise enough money to have a significant impact on this election.”