Andrew Yang, a second generation Chinese-American, campaigning for the Democratic Party ticket in the 2020 US Presidential election, has announced he will accept donations in virtual currencies. An outsider to win the race of the Democratic party’s candidacy, Mr. Yang is a supporter of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and universal basic income. Thus, he will surely shed some light on the budding crypto industry for the thousands of voters during the Yang2020 campaign, hopefully edging just a little bit closer to mass adoption.

A graduate of the elite Ivy League Columbia Law School, Mr. Yang calls himself a proponent of “human capitalism”, a political philosophy that aims to maximize the human well-being, instead of maximizing the financial gains and efficiency.

The Democrat candidate also runs “Venture for America”, a non-profit to create “economic opportunity in American cities by mobilizing the next generation of entrepreneurs and equipping them with the skills and resources they need to create jobs.” He is a fierce critic of automation and has advocated for universal basic income to fix the upcoming unemployment crisis, caused by artificial intelligence. If elected, he promised each American between the ages of 18 to 64, a $1000 per month as the only way to combat the coming changes in the employment market.

The campaign donations for the crypto aficionado will be accepted in bitcoin, ether or any other token, based on the ERC20 standard, which means there are over 570 different options to aid Mr. Yang’s bid. The minimum donation is set at $2,500.

The crypto donations could cause some problems however, as the strict American laws, concerning campaign finance forbid anonymous donations. This is a significant hurdle for those wanting to donate digital assets, as most of their transactions are untraceable.

Therefore, the potential donors will be asked to provide their personal details and will receive the wallet address after confirmation. The donors are asked not to share the wallet address, as it could lead to “untraceable donations to our campaign.”

The community was quick to point out the obvious weakness of donations in crypto, with one Twitter user claiming that, “We are one anonymous donation away from making this a matter of national security.“

Yang will also accept payments in Venmo and has embraced other mainstream technologies and will be using Instagram and Twitch to stream his campaign events. Perhaps expectedly, the bookmakers do not rate Mr. Yang‘s chances highly, with the odds of him being elected ranging from 150 to 200, pretty much on the same level as George Clooney, Kanye West or Ivanka Trump.

Nonetheless, it is beneficial for the entire crypto community that such a politician is rising to prominence and you can contribute to his campaign here.

Image Source: “Flickr”