Key Takeaways
Canada’s Strong and Free Elections Act would bar parties, candidates and third parties from accepting political contributions made in crypto.
The bill would require recipients to return, destroy or convert prohibited contributions within 30 days of becoming aware of them.
The proposal would replace Elections Canada’s current framework, which still treats crypto donations as allowable non-monetary contributions under existing rules.
Canada’s federal government has moved to shut cryptocurrency out of campaign finance.
Legislators introduced Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, in the House of Commons on March 26.
The bill would prohibit political entities and third parties from accepting contributions made in the form of crypto assets, money orders or prepaid payment products.
Parliament’s LEGISinfo site lists the bill as being at second reading in the House of Commons.
The proposal is part of a broader election-integrity package that, according to the government’s official backgrounder, would strengthen protections against foreign funding, ban digital deepfakes of electoral actors, counter false election information and tighten other campaign rules in response to emerging threats.
The push also follows a 2024 recommendation from Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, who said cryptocurrency and other untraceable instruments create challenges in identifying the source of political contributions.
In that report, he recommended prohibiting contributions made in cryptocurrency and other untraceable instruments.
Bill C-25 Would Ban Crypto Contributions Across Federal Politics
The bill draws the crypto ban broadly.
Proposed Section 372.1 would bar registered parties, associations, candidates, nomination contestants and leadership contestants from accepting contributions in the form of a crypto asset, defined in the bill as “a digital asset protected by cryptographic measures.”
Proposed Section 349.04 would apply the same restriction to third parties engaged in partisan activity, election advertising or election survey activity.
If someone still receives a prohibited contribution, the bill sets out a 30-day cleanup process.
Political entities and third parties would have to return the contribution unused, destroy it if return is not possible, or convert it into money and remit the amount as required under the act once they become aware of it.
Ottawa Is Reversing the Current Crypto Donation Framework
That would mark a clear break from Elections Canada’s existing approach.
In Elections Canada’s current interpretation note, cryptocurrency contributions are treated as non-monetary contributions under the Canada Elections Act.
The guidance says Elections Canada considers cryptocurrency to be non-monetary, and that such contributions must be valued at their commercial value at the time they are made.
Bill C-25 would move beyond that reporting-and-valuation framework and ban crypto contributions outright at the federal level.
Third-Party Funding Rules Also Tighten
Crypto is only one part of the financing overhaul.
According to the government’s backgrounder, the bill would close channels for foreign funding and prevent foreign organizations and individuals from donating to third parties for regulated political or election activities.
The same package would also add new privacy policy requirements for federal political parties and expand election safeguards tied to false or misleading information.
Canada’s move also comes days after the U.K. announced its own ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties as part of a broader package aimed at limiting opaque funding channels and foreign influence.
Bill C-25 remains at an early stage in Parliament, but its direction is clear: Ottawa wants cryptocurrency removed from the toolbox of federal political fundraising.
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