Donate any amount to become a voting member of HODLpac
Or, donate to our We the Peeps campaigns
We the PeepsHODLpac is not a DAO (yet), but it is community governed. Our donors decide which candidates we should support.
Here is how it works:
The first $5,000 a donor gives to HODLpac can be used to make donations directly from HODLpac to the campaigns of Congressional candidates that support our cause. Every dollar past $5,000 from an individual contributor must be used for what are called "independent expenditures" (more on that in the FAQs below).
Every dollar donated to HODLpac converts to one HODLvote in our Community Ballots.
Donors can allocate their HODLvotes among deserving candidates as they wish; however, HODLvotes do not translate to one dollar for a candidate in a Community Ballot.
Instead, HODLvotes are spent quadratically to buy Donation Points, meaning each additional Donation Point (DP) for a candidate costs the square of that number (1 DP costs 1 HODLvote, 2 DPs cost 4 HODLvotes, 3 DPs cost 9 HODLvotes, 4 DPs cost 16 HODLvotes, and so on...).
Donation Point totals based on Community Ballots will be used to decide which Congressional candidates get money directly from HODLpac.
Each Community Ballot will last one week. A list of 10 candidates will be released one week before the start of the Community Ballot, at which point certain qualifying donors (see FAQs for more detail) will be able to nominate additional candidates.
Election day 2020 is on November 3rd, which will mark the end of this election cycle. As of now, HODLpac plans on holding at least three Community Ballots: July 20-26, September 21-27, and October 12-18.
HODLpac donors will be able to use their HODLvotes during any of the Community Ballots, no matter when they donated to HODLpac. HODLvotes will be reset after the election cycle is over.
Have suggestions on how to improve this process? Have questions that aren't covered in the FAQ below? Email us at hello@hodlpac.org
A political action committee is a 527 organization formed for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates.
There are two main types of PACs: traditional PACs and Super PACs.
Traditional PACs can accept donations up to $5,000 from individuals and are limited to making donations up to $5,000 directly to a candidate's campaign or $15,000 donations directly to political parties.
Super PACs can accept unlimited donations from individuals. They can also spend unlimited amount supporting a candidate or party, but they can't donate or coordinate directly to or with a candidate's campaign. These are called "independent expenditures."
HODLpac is a Hybrid PAC. This means we have a traditional PAC and a Super PAC under one roof. The first $5,000 donated by an individual to HODLpac goes to the traditional PAC side - these funds are donated to candidates by the Community Ballot process described above. Any money after that will go to our Super PAC side, see below for more details.
When you donate to HODLpac, you are supporting an organization working towards creating a better regulatory environment for public cryptonetworks and the decentralized economy in the United States. HODLpac donors will also be able to participate in events, online "policy hackathons," and more - stay tuned!
Donating any amount of money gives you a proportional amount of HODLvotes (1 to 1) to use in the Community Ballots; however, we have special rewards for donating certain amounts during an election cycle. Here are the tiers we have so far (we will add more as we go), each tier gets the rewards for every tier before it:
$21 - Official HODLpac membership.
$75 - HODLpac t-shirt.
$250 - You can nominate 1 candidate that isn't already on the Community Ballot.
$750 - You can nominate 3 candidates that aren't already on the Community Ballot.
$2500 - Founding Donor status with access to VIP events.
The initial 10 candidates on the Community Ballot will be determined by the HODLpac Board - a group that makes sure HODLpac runs smoothly. The HODLpac Board is currently 4 people, selected to offer a mix of policy experience and crypto-native viewpoints:
- Tyler Whirty, HODLpac founder
- Kristin Smith, Executive Director of the Blockchain Association
- Joseph Eagan, President of Polychain Capital
- Jake Chervinksy, General Counsel of Compound Finance
When the Board releases the list of candidates the week prior to the Community Ballot, they will also release a predetermined donation plan: for example, "We are donating $__ and the top __ candidates will receive $__ donations."
We realize this is a bit centralized but HODLpac is committed to the following:
- The Board will never censor the results of a Community Ballot or nominations to the Community Ballot by qualifying donors.
- The Board will not waver from the donation plan presented before the Community Ballot begins.
- The Board will always put independent expenditure decisions to vote in a Community Ballot.
However, with regards to independent expenditures: exact implementation may be left to the judgement of the Board. For example, if HODLpac has capacity to make independent expenditures to support the opponent of an anti-crypto Congressman, then a Community Ballot vote will be held to determine whether we should do that but the vote won't necessarily determine the exact method for doing so.
This is V.1 of HODLpac. We plan to evolve based on the suggestions, feedback, and efforts of our community.
Do you have suggestions on how to make HODLpac's operations reflect the decentralized future we support? Get in touch at hello@hodlpac.org
HODLpac will not be able to give all of the money donated to it to candidates because, like any other organization, we will have expenses. However, we are committed to running a lean and transparent organization.
That being said, the amount of money available for donations to candidates during each Community Ballot will rely heavily on how much money is collected during the periods between Community Ballots. Before each nomination and voting period, the HODLpac Board will publish the list of candidates on the Ballot as well as a donation plan detailing the amount of money HODLpac will be allocating to candidates.
The maximum donation we can make to a candidate is $5,000.
Quadratic voting is a voting method where individuals allocate votes to express the degree of their preferences, rather than just the direction of their preferences. (Learn more here and here) It works, basically, as follows: the cost to the voter is the number of votes squared.
In Community Ballots, HODLpac voters spend HODLvotes quadratically to "buy" Donation Points, which are the basis for donation decisions.
We designed it this way for two reasons. First, it enables HODLpac donors to experiment with this new form of voting. Second, it levels the playing field between those who donate a lot and those who donate a little; if those who donate a lot want to put their whole support behind one candidate, then they can still do so but it has a smaller effect on the Donation Point allocation than it would if HODLvotes (which are 1 to 1 with dollars) were the determinant of donations.
Unfortunately, not yet. But we will soon.
For now, look at us as a way to get rid of your depreciating, centralized fiat.
Absolutely! Sign up for email alerts to find out how you can get involved with HODLpac's mission even without donating a penny.
