FEC US Election Agency Approves Use Of NFTs As Campaign Fundraising Incentive

FEC – The United States Federal Election Commission has issued an advisory opinion stating DataVault Holdings may use nonfungible tokens for fundraising efforts.

iexclusivenews reports that in a December 15 notice, the FEC stated that it was “permissible” for DataVault holdings to send nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, to political campaign contributors without violating corporate contribution rules.

According to the election commission, DataVault will be paid “reasonable compensation” for each NFT distributed to contributors and will keep track of all tokens distributed for its own records.

“The Commission concludes that DataVault’s proposals to provide political committees with NFTs on the same terms that it regularly offers its non-political clients would be a permissible extension of credit by DataVault in the ordinary course of business,” said FEC chair, Allen

Dickerson. “Under the Act and Commission regulations, an incorporated commercial vendor may extend credit to political committees under terms substantially similar to those the vendor offers non-political debtors.

What You Need To Know

DataVault is a ‘commercial vendor’ because its usual and normal business involves providing the same services that it proposes to provide to political committees.”

DataVault CEO Nathaniel Bradley said:

“We are very pleased by the unanimous approval by the FEC of our patented DataVault platform for use by political campaigns here in the US. In a broader view, we believe, Blockchain technology represents the future for elections that seek to be trusted and transparent in their outcomes in the future.”

In September, DataVault’s legal team proposed the firm be allowed to send NFTs as souvenirs — “in a manner akin to a campaign hat” — to individuals who contributed to political committees.

The tokens would also give token holders the option to use them for promoting a campaign “strictly on a volunteer basis and without any compensation.” Any fees from issuing NFTs or transactions would be reported as a “fundraising expenditure,” according to DataVault.

In 2019, the FEC issued a similar advisory opinion on blockchain tokens, stating that some were “materially indistinguishable from traditional forms of campaign souvenirs.”

In that case, congressional candidate Omar Reyes’ tokens had “no monetary value” and were used as an incentive to participate in campaign volunteer activities.

However, iexclusivenews Nigeria reports that NFTs have been linked to political campaigns all over the world. In South Korea, the campaign for Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-Myung announced in January that those who donated would receive NFTs with images of the politician and campaign pledges.