Donald Trump’s campaign says it will begin accepting contributions through cryptocurrency

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Tuesday it will begin accepting donations in cryptocurrency as part of an effort to build what it calls a “crypto army” by Election Day.

The Trump campaign has launched a fundraising page that provides “the ability to give to political committees of any federally permitted donor” using any crypto asset accepted through cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

The announcement reinforces the message that Trump is a crypto-friendly candidate and also appeals to a core group of young male voters who are increasingly likely to be interested in digital assets. This comes as Trump’s defense in the New York hush-money case hinges.

Cryptocurrencies are a digital asset that can be bought and sold over the internet without being tied to the global banking system.

Trump’s campaign accepts a number of popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether and US Dollar Coin, and also includes low-value coins that tend to be popular with Internet personalities, such as Shiba Inu Coin and Dogecoin.

Billionaire Elon Musk is most notably seen as a fan of the latter two, which are traded on the markets as DOGE and SHIB.

It is unclear whether the Trump campaign will hold on to the cryptocurrency or sell it immediately and what fees it will pay for liquidation. While the campaign says it plans to comply with U.S. election laws, the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies can make it difficult to verify that funds are coming from who they say they are.

Trump has already personally acquired millions of cryptocurrencies through his Trump Digital Trading Cards non-fungible token projects and the MAGA coin launched last August.

Coinbase spokeswoman Julia Krieger told The Associated Press that “cryptocurrency 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 The Associated Press’ request for comment on whether it would start accepting cryptocurrency donations.

While some states do not allow cryptocurrency donations in state races under existing campaign finance laws, the Federal Election Commission allows committees to receive bitcoin as contributions.

An advisory opinion issued by the Commission in 2014 concluded that Bitcoin was “money or anything of value” within the meaning of the law and that political committees should evaluate the contribution based on the market value of the bitcoin at the time the contribution was received.

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Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign is currently accepting Bitcoin donations.

In traditional money, Biden and the Democratic National Committee said Monday they raised more than $51 million in April; That was well below the $76 million Trump and the Republican Party reported receiving for the month.

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Associated Press reporter Ken Sweet in New York contributed to this report.