Ireland prohibits commercial crypto contributions due to concerns about foreign manipulation

A slew of new political security regulations suggested in Ireland will prohibit crypto contributions to major political parties. Contributions to political groups made with cryptocurrency would be banned in Ireland amid current democratic integrity regulations devised in response to worries about foreign meddling in politics.

Minister Darragh O’Brien’s proposals also address rules governing foreign funding, misrepresentation, and other disclosures for political groups, expressing concerns about Russian meddling in Ireland’s polls.

O’Brien told the Publication on Monday that the rules will strengthen Ireland’s government process “given the rising risk of cyber assault attacking nations” and that a newly constituted Electoral Commission will monitor the process.

It is unknown what proportion of financial bit of political contributions are now made via bitcoin to political groups or people. Cointelegraph reached out to Minister O’Brien and the Practices in Public Office Council for feedback but did not receive a response right away.

Due to worries over the impending Russia-Ukraine war, O’Brien announced his candidacy to modify the regulations in January 2022, appointing a task team of political analysts and legal professionals to examine new election legislation.

The task force recommended a set of methods to create a “legal and digital bulwark” for electoral intervention in the nation, such as organizations giving expedited accountancy monitoring and statements on compliance with the new political fundraising regulations.

It’s not uncommon for crypto campaign contributions to be prohibited: California outlawed the practice in 2018, noting privacy concerns and the fact that bitcoins are “difficult to track.” As per Multistate statistics, three other US states, notably Oregon, Michigan, and North Carolina, have laws banning the use of cryptocurrency in political fundraising.

The Irish reserve bank has previously been hostile to cryptocurrency; as recently as February, the bank indicated that it was challenging to accept financial products with crypto assets for individual investors because they lacked a “great deal of knowledge.”

A month later, Ireland Central Bank issued a warning to customers about cryptos, recommending them to be wary of “the consequences of deceptive promotions, mainly on social media, where experts are being paid to promote cryptos.”