Crypto donations could entirely corrupt British politics. Labour must act quickly | Liam Byrne

We need to know who is funding our parties, but this new frontier is custom-built for hostile actors. The elections bill is a good start – but only thatLiam Byrne is the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge HillOur 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.When someone buys a cryptocurrency their identity is anonymous, but the transaction itself is recorded on the blockchain and is publicly visible. So far we know that this anonymity has allowed cryptocurrencies to be used to fund everything from sanctions evasion to election interference. A recent report from the Centre for Information Resilience revealed that A7A5, a new “digital rouble”, has already been linked to sanctions evasions by Russians. The report also found that Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch who has been accused of being involved with Russian-backed attempts to meddle in Moldovan elections, had allegedly used the currency to funnel at least $39m (£29m) into the bank accounts of thousands of Moldovans in exchange for their votes.Liam Byrne is the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge HillDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

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