July 24, Andrew Yang, an U.S. Democrat presidential candidate tweeted that he is accepting donations in bitcoin, etherem and any other cryprocurrency based on the ERC20 standard for his 2020 presidential elections with a maximum donation of $2,500 for an individual. Yang is the second ethnic Chinese presidential candidate in the United States history.

According to Yang’s donation document, Donors are required to complete a form to verify their voter eligibility, after that, a digital wallet address will be sent via e-mail. The Team Yang 2020 also inform their donors do not share the wallet address is it would make it possible for others to make untraceable donations to their campaign.

Yang’s announcement causes mixed reactions. While many feel the candidate should not accept crypto donation as this initiative may promote cryptocurrency some how. Some objectors argue that bitcoin servers use too much electricity and nonrenewable energy which will do harm to the environment. They also believe bitcoin is ‘dirty mony’ as it is often correlated with global money launderning activities and other international crime. While many bitcoin lovers feel it is worth it.

Actually, Yang is not the first presidential candidate to accept cryptocurrency donations in the history. U.S. Senator Rand Paul accepted bitcoin campaign contributions in 2016 for his presidential elections. Austin Petersen also accepted 24 fractional bitcoin donations (US$9,700) in January 2018 when he ran for Senate.

In addition, the Libertarian Party of Texas accepted bitcoin donations in 2014. The U.S. federal government, the state of Montana and Washington, D.C. also allow cryptocurrency campaign contributions.

Yang is definitely a believer of blockchain and cryptocurrecies and he believes that blockchain technology has the potential to power a “smart government”:

“During a Facebook AMA I was asked about crypto and blockchain. I think the technology has massive potential to create a more transparent society. A smart government would embrace this and work with it. I would do that,” he tweeted.