Ireland Banned Crypto Donations To Political Parties

Ireland banned crypto donations to political parties according to the new raft of proposed laws that we see in our latest cryptocurrency news today.

Ireland banned crypto donations to political parties under the new political integrity laws drafted due to concerns about foreign interference in the elections. The amendments proposed by Minister Darragh O’Brien covered the rules around foreign donations, misinformation, and other requirements for political parties and cited fears of Russian interference in the elections in the country. Speaking with the Independent on Monday, O’Brien said that the laws will protect Ireland’s democratic system given the threat of cyber warfare targeting free countries and the newly established Electoral Commission that will oversee compliance with the laws.

It’s still unclear what percentage of the monetary amount of political donations are paid to the political parties using crypto but O’Brien started the campaign to inform about the new laws in 2022 and established a task force of political scientists and experts to investigate the new election laws because of concerns about the war in Ukraine. The task force advised on plenty of measures that will build a “legal and digital bulwark” against election interference including parties that provide streamlined accountancy reporting on adherence to the new laws.

The ban on crypto political donations is not something new. The State of California also banned this practice in 2018 due to the issues of transparency since cryptos are hard to track. Three other US States including Oregon, North Carolina, and Michigan also have laws against using crypto in campaign financing. The Irish central bank took quite the unfriendly approach to crypto in the past and stated that it was unlikely to approve the investment funds that have exposure to crypto for retail investors since they lack a high degree of expertise. The Central bank of Ireland also issued a warning to consumers in the following month advising them to have in mind all the risks of misleading advertisements, especially on social media where influencers are paid to advertise certain crypto assets.

As recently reported, The Ireland central bank released a report on “Security Markets Risk Outlook” which outlines key areas of risk for regulated financial service providers. On the 23^rd page is a section of the new products where crypto assets got mentioned. Echoing the sentiment of other central banks, the report stated that cryptocurrencies are likely to be high risk and they are speculative assets. The bank also added that consumers have to be on alert to the high risks of buying or holding these instruments like the possibility of losing the investment because the majority is unregulated in the EU region.