South Korea’s ruling political party – the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) – is reportedly deploying non-fungible tokens for fundraising in a presidential election. The collectibles will represent the image of Lee Jae-myung (DPK candidate for president) and will act as a deposit allowing the holders to exchange the NFTs with other people.
NFTs Fueling Presidential Campaign
According to a January 3 report by The Korea Times, the initiative will start later this month. Assuming the DPK issues the non-fungible tokens, it will become the world’s first political party to employ digital collectibles for such a cause.
“Our presidential candidate is also preparing to raise funds using NFT,” a ruling party MP confirmed.
The DPK also emphasized that fundraising using NFTs does not violate the Political Funds Act or the Public Official Election Act. Rep. Lee Kwang-jae revealed that the officials have thoroughly discussed the matter with government institutions over the past eight months.
“Donations will be managed in accordance with the Law on the Election of Civil Servants and the Guidelines on the Management of Political Funds,” he added.
The South Korean presidential election is set for March 9, 2022, as the DPK’s candidate is the 57-year-old member of the party – Lee Jae-myung. The move is considered to win some of the young Koreans’ votes, specifically those in their 20s and 30s – among the most active individuals in the cryptocurrency space.
In a recent interview, Lee Jae-myung said South Korea should lead the global trend and take non-fungible tokens and digital assets to the next level.
“If we deny what actually exists, it will be similar to an isolationist foreign policy,” the presidential candidate concluded.
Cryptocurrencies accepted as political donations
Last week, Representative Lee Kwang-jae – another member of the Democratic Party of Korea – revealed his intention to receive campaign donations in cryptocurrency.
The initial assets will be the two largest by market capitalization – Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), as well as a few local tokens. If realized, the politician will become the first in his field to accept cryptocurrencies for campaign finance.
The lawmaker’s office explained that it initially intended to receive 10 million won (approximately $ 8,400) in cryptocurrency, with a limit of 1 million won ($ 840) set for each contributor.
Additionally, Rep. Lee Kwang-jae plans to issue non-fungible tokens as a receipt for such contributions starting from mid-January this year.
