US presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to accept Bitcoin for campaign donations

Vivek Ramaswamy becomes the second Presidential candidate in the United States to officially accept Bitcoin (BTC) donations for the upcoming 2024 elections. 

“Give $1,” said Ramaswamy while announcing that he was accepting Bitcoin donations. The revelation came just two days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the first presidential candidate in United States history to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin. Ramaswamy stated, “Let’s make the 2024 election a referendum on fiat currency.”

As shown above, Ramaswamy flashed a QR code while on stage, which when scanned, would redirect users to a payment gateway that offers various payment options for donations, including BTC and Satoshi (sats) — the smallest denomination of Bitcoin.

Ramaswamy opted for BitPay’s payment service for receiving Bitcoin donations. However, BitPay supports other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), ApeCoin (APE), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) among others.

Eligible U.S. citizens and permanent residents can donate up to $6,600 for the campaign, which is not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Donors will be awarded with a nonfungible token (NFT) as the donation page mentions “After donating, come back to claim your NFT.”

Related: FTX seeks to claw back political donations by the end of February

In February, lawmakers in the Kansas House of Representatives introduced a bill proposing a cap of $100 when it comes to crypto political donations.

For donations under $100, the receiver would need to “immediately convert” the crypto to U.S. dollars, not use the crypto for expenditures, and not HODL the funds.

Magazine: Hyperbitcoinization is underway, RFK seeks Bitcoin donations and other news: Hodler’s Digest, May 14-20