Kansas adjourns crypto bill targeting political donations to January 2024

The bill required politicians to “immediately convert” crypto donations to U.S. dollars, with no scope of expenditures or hodling the funds.

A Kansas bill that aimed to limit and prohibit cryptocurrency donations in political campaigns has been adjourned to January 2024. 

Lawmakers in the Kansas House of Representatives introduced the bill — HB 2167 — on Jan. 25, 2023. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the bill sought to enforce a $100 limit on all political donations in the state’s primary or general election. The bill also required politicians to “immediately convert” the crypto donations to U.S. dollars — with no scope of expenditures or HODLing the funds.

Soon after the bill was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Elections, a committee report was shared on Feb. 22, 2023 “recommending bill be passed” accompanied by certain amendments.

However, the bill was stricken from the calendar after failure to comply with the state’s Rule 1507 (Disposition of Bills Subject to Certain Deadlines), which subjects certain bills to strict deadlines. The title of the bill HB 2167 read:

“Amending the campaign finance act to regulate and limit the use of cryptocurrency and to prohibit the use of any political funds collected by a candidate or candidate committee for a candidate for federal office.”

Targeting Bitcoin (BTC) political donations in particular, the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission said in 2017 that cryptocurrency contributions were “too secretive.” Californian authorities too had banned crypto political donations back in 2018, but later backtracked on the decision in July 2022.

Related: KC Fed tracks healthy growth of crypto ATM industry despite predatory operators

Nine United States Senators joined in to support Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Senator Warren’s official senate webpage named Democratic Party Senators Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, Tina Smith, Jeanne Shaheen, Bob Casey, Richard Blumenthal, Michael Bennet and Catherine Cortez Masto, along with independent Senator Angus King, as those who joined the bipartisan coalition supporting the bill.

“Our expanding coalition shows that Congress is ready to take action – our bipartisan bill is the toughest proposal on the table cracking down on crypto’s illicit use and giving regulators more tools in their toolbox,” Warren added while welcoming the new bill supporters.

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