Congressional candidates are venturing into the world of cryptocurrency by selling non-fungible tokens (NTFs) to fund their campaigns in the midterm elections.
- Democrat Shrina Kurani, an engineer running for a House seat in California, and Republican Blake Masters, running for Arizona Senate Seat, have unveiled NFTs as incentives for donors, posting mixed results.
- Meanwhile, these are the initial days of crypto’s push into US politics. Few political candidates have benefited from its rapid rise, including Christie’s auction selling an NFT artwork for $69.3M.
- An NFT is “minted” with a unique digital certificate of authenticity via the same blockchain technology that makes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
- In an interview, Kurani stated that NFTs were their campaign merchandise. She was only able to raise $6,610 from the NFTs.
Masters stated that he raised around $575,000 in late December by committing to give donors tokens with cover art for a book about startup firms that he wrote alongside billionaire Peter Thiel.
BTC USD up +0.10%Source: Bloomberg.