The Implications of A Distributed Autonomous Organization On Political Campaign Finance Regulations

Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations on the contributions received by political candidates and parties has faced scrutiny over many years due to the fact that certain donors need not disclose their identities. With the rise of “dark money," which refers to “political spending to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of money is unknown” [1], and the introduction of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology such as smart contracts to the political finance world–a new platform for bad actors to leverage emerges. This paper discusses how blockchain technologies such as distributed autonomous organizations (DAO) and smarts contracts can be leveraged to further cripple the credibility and integrity of the political process and create a wider avenue for foreign interference in political races as seen in the 2016 presidential elections. Four use cases in which smart contracts and a DAO can be used to extend the influence of bad actors and foreign interference in political campaign financing in ways that are anonymous and untraceable are examined.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Ward, Ayzha Tamar 1994-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Shi, Weidong

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Verma, Rakesh M.
• Conklin, Wm. Arthur

• DAO
• Blockchain
• Cybersecurity

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/5295

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/5295