California has updated its campaign manuals to include comprehensive guidelines for accepting crypto donations

Political committees may accept cryptocurrencies as an alternative form of donation within specific parameters.

Recent revisions to the campaign disclosure manuals published by the California Fair Political Practises Commission (FPPC) provide detailed guidelines for reporting crypto payments.

These revisions reflect current financial practices, adapt to new laws and commission rules, and cover various other issues.

Changes include reporting requirements for behested payments, crypto donations, and transparency standards for limited liability companies.

Non-substantive technical adjustments and new restrictions regulating excessive donations and advertising disclosure requirements are also included in the updates.

Political committees may accept cryptocurrencies as an alternative form of donation within specific parameters.

Notably, such donations cannot be taken from foreign principals, lobbyists, or anonymous sources, and must conform to relevant limitations.

Additionally, committees are unable to accept crypto donations through peer-to-peer transfers. Instead, they must go via the committee’s approved payment processors.

Donations in cryptocurrencies must be sent and received via payment processors located in the United States that are registered with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Know Your Customer (KYC) processes must be used by these processors to confirm the identity of donors. Donors’ names, addresses, occupations, and employers must be collected by the committee’s payment processors as part of Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols if the committee is to accept cryptocurrency donations.

Within 24 hours of receiving a donation, this data must be sent to the appropriate committee. Payment processors also have two business days from receipt to convert crypto donations to U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate and deposit them into the campaign bank account.

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