Illinois Politician Holly Kim Is Saying "Yes" to Crypto Donations

A new politician running for office in Illinois is accepting cryptocurrency donations for her campaign. Holly Kim, a registered democrat, is running for another term as Lake County Treasurer, and is officially the first politician in the state to say “yes” to bitcoin and various altcoins to boost her campaign.

Holly Kim Loves Her Crypto

The process began when a supporter gifted her with three dollars in Litecoin. The supporter also said that they would be sending more down the line. This opened several doors for Kim, who believes that cryptocurrency is not only revolutionary, but will bring a serious edge to her campaign efforts. Since then, Kim has also stated that she will accept Dogecoin, one of the most lucrative cryptocurrencies of the past few years.

Initially beginning as a meme currency that nobody was supposed to take seriously, Dogecoin is now the fourth largest cryptocurrency in the world and has a valuation of more than $1 billion at the time of writing. In an interview, Kim explained:

It seems to be how people want to give. I feel like it’s a new frontier.

While politicians have been allowed to accept crypto donations for their campaigns over the past seven years, very few have taken advantage of this new benefit, though there are exceptions. Andrew Yang is one. The entrepreneur ran for president in 2020 and when that failed, he decided to have a go at being New York City’s mayor. Either way, Yang was slated to bring a whole lot more clarity to crypto regulations should he have won the White House.

But Kim really brings a unique flair to Illinois considering this is the first time anyone within the state has accepted a crypto donation for a political campaign. Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, commented on the significance of the circumstances, explaining:

Before this, it has come up (in speculative scenarios), but not in any serious way in terms of someone calling and saying, ‘I’m going to be taking funds.’ This is the first actual solid case where we know the candidate intends to report cryptocurrency as a campaign contribution.

A New Wave in the World of Finance

At the age of 40, Kim says she has been heavily interested in cryptocurrency for the past several years. She was initially a trustee in Mundelein and tried to get her colleagues to accept (without success) the notion of a payment processor that would accept bitcoin, PayPal, and assorted digital assets. Given that her constituents were not interested, she says:

At that point, I accepted it might be too future minded.

However, she is very excited to see how many businesses – such as AMC – are now turning the tide when it comes to crypto payments and accepting BTC as though it were cash.

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