[Cryptography] Bitcoins and lobbyists

[Henry Baker]

At 06:06 PM 2/27/2018, John Levine wrote:
>In article <E1eqqy6-00023F-2R at elasmtp-galgo.atl.sa.earthlink.net> you write:
>>"If these money flows had all been Bitcoin-based, her job would have been trivial: the
>>government would simply require the disclosure of the Bitcoin addresses of the various
>>participants, and the Bitcoin miners (and the various Bitcoin tracing technologies) would
>>do the rest."
>
>If someone makes even a modest effort to cover his tracks, tying a
>bitcoin wallet to an identity is far from simple.  I don't see it
>as an improvement.

It's quite simple: all of the Bitcoins coming into a Representative's, Senator's or President's campaign have to come from somewhere traceable, else they can't be spent -- and could be subject to confiscation (aka 100% taxable) w/o proper identification (banks already have "know your customer" rules).  The Bitcoins going out from the campaign also have to go somewhere traceable, else they're not legal expenditures.

The blockchain makes these incoming and outgoing transfers quite transparent, once you know the campaign's own Blockchain address.

I don't know the specifics of existing FEC laws, but there are plenty of these laws on the books; the problem is enforcing these laws.