Canada’s proposed ban on political donations from crypto moved a step closer to becoming law on Friday, moving through parliament with cross-party support and little opposition.
Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, passed second reading in the House of Commons and was referred to committee for further review. In Canada’s system, this vote signals that lawmakers broadly agree on a bill’s core principles before it faces detailed scrutiny and possible changes.
The legislation would ban political contributions in crypto, along with money orders and prepaid payment products, grouping them as hard-to-trace funding methods.
The ban will apply across the federal system – registered parties, constituency associations, candidates, leaders and nomination participants and third parties operating election advertising.
Recipients will have 30 days to return illegal crypto contributions or send them to the Receiver General, Canada’s equivalent of the US Treasury.
The bill’s leading defender on the floor was Kevin Lamoureux, the Liberal parliamentary secretary to the government House leader, a junior civil servant who helps steer the ruling party’s legislative agenda and acts as the floor’s spokesman during debate.
His opening speech went through AI deepfakes, foreign interference and administrative sanctions. Crypto did not come up, according to an official transcript. Asked by a liberal colleague to choose between three priorities — foreign interference in nominations, political funding transparency or artificial intelligence — Lamoureux chose AI.
Several conservative members of parliament — the party is led by Pierre Poilievre, who marketed himself as crypto-friendly during the last election — raised questions about political financing rules and how new restrictions would be applied.
But the issue never became a central point of contention.
Conservatives supported sending the bill to committee, while other opposition parties raised concerns about various elements of the legislation but did not center their arguments on crypto.
The limited resistance also reflects how little crypto has been used in Canadian politics.
Canada has technically allowed crypto donations since 2019, when Elections Canada classified them as non-cash in-kind contributions equivalent to property. But no major federal party has publicly accepted crypto, and no contributions have been disclosed in recent elections.
C-25 is itself a re-run. Its predecessor, Bill C-65, contained identical crypto language and died when Parliament was prorogued — suspended without being dissolved — in January 2025.
Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer recommended tighter regulation of crypto-donations in 2022, and in November 2024 he switched to recommending an outright ban, citing pseudo-anonymity and the difficulty of verifying contributors’ identities.
The US is moving in the opposite direction. The Federal Election Commission has allowed crypto donations to US campaigns since 2014.
Earlier this year, Britain passed a law banning crypto donations, citing concerns that digital assets could be used to hide the origin of foreign money in British politics.
