Canada moved closer to banning cryptocurrency political donations on Friday, as the House of Commons approved second reading of Bill C-25 — the Strong and Free Elections Act — and sent it to committee for detailed study. What the bill would do - Bill C-25 would bar political contributions in crypto, and would also prohibit money orders and prepaid payment products — payment types Ottawa says are hard to trace. - The ban would apply across federal politics: registered parties, electoral district associations, candidates, leadership and nomination contestants, and third parties that run election advertising. - Recipients who receive illegal crypto would have 30 days to return it or remit the value to the Receiver General (Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Treasury). Parliamentary dynamics - Second reading passage signals broad agreement with the bill’s core principles before committee scrutiny and possible amendments. The vote carried with cross-party support and little overt opposition. - Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal parliamentary secretary who led debate for the government, discussed topics ranging from AI deepfakes to foreign interference; crypto itself was not a focus of his remarks. - Several Conservative MPs — from a party whose leader, Pierre Poilievre, campaigned as crypto-friendly in the last election — probed how the new rules would be applied, but Conservatives nonetheless backed sending the bill to committee. Other opposition parties raised concerns about other parts of the legislation rather than centering on crypto. Why this matters (and why it may not be disruptive immediately) - Canada has technically allowed crypto donations since 2019, when Elections Canada treated them as non-cash, in-kind contributions akin to property. In practice, however, major federal parties have not publicly accepted crypto and no crypto contributions were disclosed in recent elections — a likely reason resistance to the ban was limited. - Bill C-25 is a revival: an earlier version with the same crypto language, Bill C-65, died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. Regulatory rationale and international context - Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer first urged tighter oversight of crypto donations in 2022 and shifted to recommending an outright prohibition in November 2024, citing pseudo-anonymity and the difficulty of verifying contributors’ identities. - International responses vary: the U.S. Federal Election Commission has allowed crypto donations to campaigns since 2014, while the U.K. enacted a ban earlier this year over concerns that digital assets could mask foreign-origin political funding. What’s next - With second reading cleared, C-25 will undergo committee review where specifics can be debated and amended. If passed, the change would reshape the legal landscape for political fundraising in Canada — though its immediate impact may be muted given the low current use of crypto in federal campaigns. For the crypto industry and political actors, the committee phase will be the moment to press for clarifications on enforcement, definitions, and edge cases — and for observers, it will determine whether Canada takes one of the stricter regulatory stances on crypto political finance worldwide. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news