Taiwan, a state in East Asia, also known as the Republic of China (ROC), is making history. According to anonymous officials Taipei City Council candidate, Hsiao Hsin-Chen is the first individual to accept a donation via cryptocurrency while running for a governmental position.

Hsin-Chin announced on his Facebook page that he accepted an anonymous donation in Bitcoin (BTC) totaling a value of US$325 (NT$10,000.)

While the value of the donation may seem inconsequential, it does adhere to the country’s Political Donations Act, which caps anonymous donations at US$325 (NT$10,000.) While this is the Bitcoin value of the donation at present day, with the currency’s fluctuation the value could potentially soar.

Regulators are suggesting that if the value does go up, the candidate should either turn over the excess money to the Control Yuan or return the excess amount to the donor if they can be identified.

“Accepting bitcoins as a political donation is more symbolic than the act appears,” Hsin-Chin said, “Bitcoin has a transparent nature. Each transaction is recorded publicly using blockchain technology, making it difficult to counterfeit. This could lead to more transparency when politicians accepted political donation.”

Over the past few months, Hsin-Chen has spoken about the benefits of technological innovation and digital currency and how it can help keep the nation’s political system clean, thanks to publicly-recorded transactions.

Hsin-Chen’s action of accepting Bitcoin as a political donation is representative of his campaign’s focus which is on technological innovation and eliminating corrupt financial practices from the political system.

The island nation of Taiwan has the potential to become a crypto-capital as it becomes more innovative in the digital space and blockchain industry. The country plans to integrate smart technology into legacy systems and digital assets, and blockchain technology will play a key role in that process.

Another cryptocurrency advancement within Taiwan is the launch of a new stablecoin tied to the value of NTD. Taiwan’s startup Green, World Fintech Services, announced that the plan for the project is to place the stablecoin on the Ethereum network as an ERC-20 token. The project will aim to protect the coin from being used in illicit activities such as fraud and money laundering.