On Sept. 20, the crypto community was rattled by the news that California’s political campaign regulator ruled in favor of an outright ban of any and all cryptocurrency donations. It came across as a surprise for many that the progressive state, which is home to the world’s largest technology hub as well as to a politician whom Bloomberg calls the ‘Crypto Candidate for Congress,’ has suddenly set such a hard-handed regulatory precedent in the run-up to November’s elections.
If anything, the signals that emanated from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) up to this point were largely positive: Just about a month ago, the commission considered the status of cryptocurrencies in state-level political campaigns. Although no definitive decision was reached at that time, commissioners were vocal about their reluctance to ban cryptocurrency from elections outright and expressed their willingness to do further research. How come the end result wound up so fiercely anti-crypto?