Despite a general ignorance or dislike of all things crypto-related, it seems that the US Congress is figuring out how to use NFTs to raise money. A couple of hopefuls campaigning for Congress have already used NFTs to help raise funds this election cycle. Will this be a trend that continues, or is it just an appeal to the hype around NFTs right now?
US Congress Hopefuls Offer NFTs, With Varying Results
On one end of the spectrum is Shrina Kurani. She is a Web3-friendly candidate for the House of Representatives from California. Kurani tried to sell 2,022 Solana NFTs in December.
Unfortunately for the US Congress candidate, the NFT sale didn’t go all too well. In fact, she sold less than a dozen of the NFTs and raised $6,610 by the time the offer ended.
On the other hand, there’s Blake Masters. To sum up, the former venture capitalist is running for the US Senate in Arizona. Masters offered 99 NFTs based on a book he co-wrote with Peter Thiel. The NFTs served as gifts for those who chose to donate.
In contrast to Kurani, Masters said that he raised about $575,000 from the NFTs. This could mean that all his donors made the biggest donation possible for an election for the US Congress. Due to the fact that there were only 99 NFTs and the max donation was $5800.
The Strange Marriage Of NFTs And Politics Continues
Given the extent to which Web3 is all about decentralization, it is interesting to see candidates for the US Congress – and even in other countries – using NFTs as a way to help win elections.
Nevertheless, it was just a matter of time. After all, NFTs have found their way into just about every industry at this point. Hopefully, if this trend continues, it might lead to some members of the US Congress better understanding Web3 and the space around it.
And to be sure, people in the Web3 space are pushing to make sure that they do. For example, creators of the Flow blockchain, Dapper Labs, recently filed a registration to lobby on issues related to NFTs.
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