Ahead of the 2024 election, Donald Trump is pitching himself as the chosen candidate for crypto adherents. He reportedly told a campaign stop in California earlier this month he wants to be the “crypto president” (a major about-face for a guy who in 2019 said he was “not a fan of crypto.”)
But the crypto-enthusiasm goes beyond the theoretical: In late May, his campaign began opening up the ability for supporters to donate crypto to help fund his campaign.
Trump is not only accepting crypto donations, but he’s an active investor, reportedly owning a crypto wallet that holds a broad portfolio of coins that is worth $14.7 million, according to crypto analysts Arkham Intelligence.
“There’s a natural synergy between Trump’s populist message, and the mission of crypto, of democratizing and protecting people in the finance realm,” says David Primo, a political science professor at the University of Rochester.
But some believe there’s something more calculated at play: that any crypto donations could easily balloon in value if the coins in question ride a Trump-fueled hype wave, meaning Trump would end up with a far greater spending purse—but only have filed for the initial, lower value amount.
“It’s a relatively new space, and a bit of a gray area,” says Conor M. Dowling, a political science professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. “Which tends to be the space that President Trump works in, right? Along the lines of what might push the boundaries. But at the moment, everything seems to be within what the FEC would consider to be legal contributions.”
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) pointed Fast Company to guidance on cryptocurrencies on their website published in 2014 that refers only to Bitcoin. That page suggests crypto donations should be treated much the same as a cash donation to a campaign, including ensuring donations are not received from prohibited sources, do not exceed the contributor’s contribution limit, or are otherwise not legal.
The FEC guidance adds: “A political committee that receives a contribution in bitcoins should value that contribution based on the market value of bitcoins at the time the contribution is received.” An FEC spokesperson declined to comment on any tax implications.
Neither the FEC, nor Trump’s official office, responded to Fast Company’s questioning about whether any increases in the value of cryptocurrencies following their donation could be used but did not need to be reported.
If that were to be the case—and Trump received MAGA coins that had subsequently appreciated in value—then there’s the potential that the campaign could benefit hugely. “If somebody could give the Trump campaign $1,000 of AT&T stock or something, and then if it goes up, they get to keep those gains,” says Primo. “But I’m not sure I consider that a loophole.”
He adds: “I think a little bit too much has been made of the idea that this is somehow an attempt to skirt campaign finance rules.”
After all, the risk inherent in accepting crypto donations is that their value can go down as well as up. Indeed, after Trump was unanimously found guilty of 34 counts relating to falsifying business records, the crypto community last week flooded the wallet they believe to be linked to him with donations, doubling his holdings of meme coins, while also pushing the price of the coins he did hold—MAGA coin, key among them—higher and higher. At one point on June 5, the wallet reportedly owned by Trump held more than $30 million in crypto. But since then, its value has halved.
“These markets are really volatile,” Primo says. “I just don’t think that that’s going to be a big part of the campaign. Nor do I think it’s a really big loophole in the law.”