Jared Polis Became the First Congressman to Accept Bitcoin Donations After FCC’s Approval

Open up your eWallets! Last week, in a vote of 6 to 0, the FCC
ruled people can donate as much as $100 worth of
Bitcoins to political committees. Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D)
became the first congressman to invite Bitcoin donations and,
according to TIME, racked up “well over”
$1,000 worth of the cryptocurrency in 24 hours. 

Reason TV recently sat down with the tech savvy 38 year-old
congressman to talk about his lifelong love of ecommerce, video
gaming, and Internet culture.

“A Gamer
in Congress: Q&A with Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)” was
originally published as part of our special Video Game Nation package
on May 7, 2014.  The original text is below:

Rep. Jared Polis
represents the 2nd District of Colorado. A conventional Democrat in
some respects, he also supports many causes that matter to
libertarians: legalizing marijuana and hemp, restraining NSA
surveillance, reforming copyright and patent laws, and making space
for the virtual currency Bitcoin.

His background as a businessman is in Internet commerce and his
background as a child of the 1980s is video games. Indeed, Polis is
not just a congressman but an avid gamer. And when legislation such
as the Stop Online
Privacy Act threatened gaming culture and free expression more
generally, he asked gamers to help him put the proposal on ice.

Reason’s Scott Shackford
recently sat down with Polis in his Washington, D.C. office to
discuss video games, his positions on surveillance, and why he
thinks gamers skew libertarian. Read Shackford’s profile
of Polis in the June issue of Reason magazine.

About 12 minutes.

Camera by Amanda Winkler and Joshua Swain. Edited by Alex
Manning.

View this article.