Miami mayor’s presidential campaign accepting donations in bitcoin

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks at the 2023 Republican Party of Iowa Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 28. He is seeking the party’s nomination for president in 2024. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI

Presidential candidate and Miami Mayor Francis Xavier Suarez has started accepting campaign contributions in bitcoin.

The candidate offered a “Vote Bitcoin” t-shirt for anyone who donated the equivalent of $1 in BTC on the campaign website.

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Suarez, who is seeking the Republican nomination, is known to be a pro-cryptocurrency politician. Two years ago, he supported the launch of a local crypto token MiamiCoin.

Last week, it was revealed that the SOS America Political Action Committee, which supports Suarez’s presidential bid, received a $500,000 donation from Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO of a Miami-based crypto firm MoonPay. Soto-Wright made the donation through PassionForest, which he owns and controls.

Suarez said that if elected, he would ban a central bank digital currency, stating that “nobody wants the federal government knowing where you have your money and how much money you have.”

Fellow Republican hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also accept campaign contributions in bitcoin, according to their campaign websites.

The Federal Election Commission approved bitcoin contributions in 2014, ruling they should be treated as “in-kind donations.” These noncash items fall under the same category as goods and services like office equipment and special event auctions.

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