--- title: Bitcoin Fair Game for PACs, Federal Election Commission Says description: The Federal Elections Commission unanimously agreed that political committees could legally accept bitcoin donations under $100. canonical: https://time.com/92646/bitcoin-campaigns-elections/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-08T17:38:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:41.035Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bitcoin Fair Game for PACs, Federal Election Commission Says og:description: The Federal Elections Commission unanimously agreed that political committees could legally accept bitcoin donations under $100. og:url: https://time.com/92646/bitcoin-campaigns-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bitcoin Fair Game for PACs, Federal Election Commission Says twitter:description: The Federal Elections Commission unanimously agreed that political committees could legally accept bitcoin donations under $100. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # PACs Can Take Bitcoin, Regulator Says > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bab0a930-fd36-4157-b5d3-d4daaa69df5c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Explains: What is Bitcoin? [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: What is Bitcoin?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/baM6a66m.m3u8) (2:45)  _Published 2013-11-04. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer “cryptocurrency” that can be used to purchase everything from Domino’s pizza to drugs on the deep web. Here's what you need to know._  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 8, 2014 5:38 PM UTC  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 8, 2014 5:38 PM UTC Political candidates and committees [can accept contributions](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/fec-oks-bitcoin-campaign-donations-106492.html?hp=l6) in the form of bitcoin, [a regulator said Thursday](http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2014/documents/mtgdoc%5F14-24-b.pdf), the first time the digital currency has been formally blessed for political spending. The Federal Election Commission unanimously agreed that political committees can legally accept bitcoin donations under $100, acknowledging that the digital currency counted as a broadly defined “contribution.” Responding to an inquiry from the Make Your Laws PAC, the commission said political committees could accept a limited bitcoin donation as long as it could identify the donor. In the opinion, which amounts to a guideline but not a law, the FEC also said political action committees could invest in bitcoin as they might stocks. But the FEC stopped short of allowing PACs to spend bitcoin, requiring instead that PACs convert them into dollars first first. The FEC is notorious for its gridlock and lax enforcement of existing campaign finance regulations, and its decision doesn’t necessarily mean political committees won’t test and stretch the limits by using bitcoin for more political spending. Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic appointee, [told the Washington _Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/05/08/federal-election-commission-approves-bitcoin-donations-to-political-committees/) that the $100 limit—a figured proposed in the Make Your Laws inquiry—facilitated the decision. “The $100 limit was really important to us,” said said. “We have to balance a desire to accommodate innovation, which is a good thing, with a concern that we continue to protect transparency in the system and ensure that foreign money doesn’t seep in.” ## Transcript >> Bitcoin is a peer- to- peer cryptocurrency that can be used to purchase everything from Domino's pizza to drugs on the deep web. Here's what you need to know. Bitcoin was created in 2008 by a Japanese programmer known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Like dollars, Bitcoin is exchanged for goods and services, but unlike dollars, it is a purely digital currency. Bitcoin is also decentralized meaning that it is not controlled by a governing body in the way that the U. S. government maintains dollars. Instead, it operates as a peer- to- peer currency using cryptography to validate transactions. Bitcoin functions like its own personal Paypal, allowing users to trade Bitcoin back and forth between each other with no intermediary. This liberates Bitcoin users from institutions like banks, which typically broker transactions and impose fees for transferring money. Users keep their Bitcoin in a digital wallet that keeps track of Bitcoin addresses comprised of a public key, a private key, and a Bitcoin balance. When a user wants to purchase something using Bitcoin, they send their public key to the person they are paying and the amount of Bitcoin is subtracted from that person's wallet and recorded in a public ledger. The private key is never shared, making the transaction virtually anonymous. Bitcoin are created by computers that are forced to solve increasingly difficult mathematical problems in order to generate new coins. However, only a certain number of coins can be mined at a time so that there will never be more than 21 million coins in existence. Because of the fixed number of coins, Bitcoin is treated as a commodity with its worth determined by a supply and demand. Bitcoin is treated on exchanges like Mt. Gox, which functions like a virtual NASDAQ so the more people want Bitcoin, the higher the price will be. Currently, one Bitcoin is worth about $ 215. Bitcoin is the product of an era marked by a mounting distrust in banks and government institutions. And unlike those establishments, promises anonymity and minimal transfer fees. Liberation from third- party for- profit institutions could have huge implications for the economy, but Bitcoin has yet to really hit the mainstream. The currency is currently accepted primarily by online vendors like Reddit and Word Press, though some brick- and- mortar stores like the New York City bar, Ever, also take Bitcoin. But the Bitcoin ecosystem might not remain a Wild West for that much longer. The U. S. government is currently investigating how to regulate digital currency like Bitcoin. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/92646/bitcoin-campaigns-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/92646/bitcoin-campaigns-elections/"},"headline":"PACs Can Take Bitcoin, Regulator Says","datePublished":"2014-05-08T17:38:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:41.035Z","description":"Regulators said political action committees can accept small amounts of donations in bitcoin, a digital currency that's increasingly popular despite turbulent valuation fluctuations. 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