The senior MP is calling for urgent reform as part of the government’s elections bill, including a ban on cryptocurrency donations, for media laws to cover digital and social media, and for any significant investment in a media organisation by a donor who also makes political donations to be disclosed to the Electoral Commission.
Byrne said the committee chairs are concerned political finance “must be transparent, traceable and enforceable” but crypto donations undermine all three.
“Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference,” he said. “The Electoral Commission has warned that current technology makes these risks exceptionally hard to manage.
“Other democracies have already acted. The UK should not wait until a scandal forces our hand. This is not about opposing innovation. It is about protecting democracy with rules that work in the real world.”
Byrne said: “The letter was just the starting point of a backbench push to have crypto outlawed, until such time as oversight is possible.
“If the elections bill doesn’t ban cryptocurrency donations, I will move amendments to make sure it does, and I know scores of MPs will back it,” he said. “Anonymous money has no place in British democracy.
Business and trade committee chair Liam Byrne, one of the letter’s signatories, said that political financing “must be transparent, traceable and enforceable,” arguing that crypto is not.
“Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference,” Byrne said. “The Electoral Commission has warned that current technology makes these risks exceptionally hard to manage.”
The letter, signed by business and trade select committee chair Liam Byrne and six colleagues, argues that crypto donations undermine transparency, traceability and enforcement in political finance, according to The Guardian and The Observer.
"Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference," Byrne said in a statement to The Guardian. "The Electoral Commission has warned that current technology makes these risks exceptionally hard to manage."
“Dark money has no place in British politics — and that includes crypto.”
Today I welcomed steps to clean up political finance — but warned they’ll mean nothing unless we move decisively to ban cryptocurrency donations.
Crypto is being used to launder money and disguise the origins of political cash. It has no role in our democracy.
Read more 
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…Our party finance rules are riddled with loopholes. Shell companies. Unincorporated associations. Anonymous donations routed through digital campaigns between elections. All legal. All ripe for abuse. And now, a new gateway has opened: cryptocurrency.
“Dark money has no place in British politics — and that includes crypto.”
Today I welcomed steps to clean up political finance — but warned they’ll mean nothing unless we move decisively to ban cryptocurrency donations.
Crypto is being used to launder money and disguise the origins of political cash. It has no role in our democracy.
I pressed Ministers to confirm the Elections Bill will shut this loophole once and for all.
#DarkMoney #CryptoBan
