Canada moves to ban crypto donations for election campaigns following UK

Bill C-25 follows years of warnings from Canada's Chief Electoral Officer about the risk that crypto donations could pose to electoral integrity.

What to know:

• Canada’s Bill C-25 would ban cryptocurrency, money order and prepaid card donations across the federal political system, closing a fundraising channel that has seen virtually no use since crypto was first permitted in 2019.
• The Chief Electoral Officer, who initially favored tighter regulation, shifted in 2024 to recommending an outright prohibition, citing cryptocurrency’s pseudo-anonymity and the fundamental difficulty of verifying contributor identities.
• The bill, a reintroduction of the failed Bill C-65, sets 30-day deadlines to return or remit illegal crypto contributions and imposes penalties up to twice the contribution’s value plus $100,000 for corporations, and is currently at first reading in the House of Commons.

Canada’s federal government has moved to ban cryptocurrency donations to political campaigns, shutting down a fundraising channel that appears to have seen little to no real-world use in the country's previous elections.

Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, introduced March 26, would prohibit political contributions made in BTC and other cryptoassets, as well as in money orders and prepaid payment products, grouping them as forms of funding that are difficult to trace.

The ban applies broadly across the political system, covering registered parties, riding associations, candidates, leadership and nomination contestants, and third parties engaged in election advertising.

The move comes as U.K. government has also recently announced an immediate moratorium on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, citing concerns that digital assets could be used to hide the origins of foreign money in British politics.

Second attempt

Canada's Bill C-25 addresses a theoretical vulnerability rather than a documented problem.

Canada has permitted crypto donations since 2019 under an administrative framework that classified them as non-monetary contributions, similar to property. But no major federal party has publicly accepted crypto, and no contributions have been disclosed in either the 2021 or 2025 elections.

Under the 2019 framework, contributions were not eligible for tax receipts, a significant disincentive in a system where donors routinely claim credits.

Contributors of more than $200 had to be publicly identified by name and address. Only cryptocurrencies with verifiable public blockchains qualified — privacy coins such as Monero or ZCash were excluded. Candidates had to liquidate holdings into fiat before spending.

Yet the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) grew increasingly uncomfortable with the arrangement.

In a June 2022 post-election report, the CEO recommended adopting tighter rules for crypto contributions, including eliminating a provision that deemed contributions of $200 or less from non-professional sellers to have nil value, effectively exempting them from the regulated financing regime.

By November 2024, the CEO's position had shifted from regulate to prohibit, recommending an outright ban on the grounds that cryptocurrency's pseudo-anonymity creates transparency challenges and that contributor identification is "fundamentally difficult."

Bill C-25 is the second attempt to enact a crypto donation ban. Its predecessor, Bill C-65, contained identical provisions but died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025.

The new bill gives recipients 30 days to return, destroy, or convert and remit any crypto contributions received in violation of the ban, with proceeds forwarded to the Receiver General. Maximum administrative penalties reach twice the value of the offending contribution, plus $100,000 for corporations.

In the United States, the Federal Election Commission provides guidance on how to properly disclose BTC and other crypto donations to campaigns. Crypto donations have been permitted in the U.S. since 2014.

Canada's bill is currently at first reading in the House of Commons.

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