Colombian President allegedly accepted $500,000 in illicit crypto donation for 2022 campaign

Colombian President Gustavo Petro allegedly accepted more than $500,000 in digital tokens from a scam crypto project to finance his 2022 campaign, according to local media reports.

Colombia-based cryptocurrency project Daily COP made the illicit donation of 2 billion Colombian pesos, or roughly $514,036, in crypto to Petro's campaign in 2022, a former contractor for the token project, Omar Hernández, told Caracol Radio on Wednesday. The donation was discussed during a February 2022 meeting between Daily COP co-founder Sebastián Betancourt and Petro's then-campaign manager Ricardo Roa at a Bogota bakery, where the parties also talked about “the advantages of cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the traditional banking system,” Hernández, who claims he was also at the meeting, said.

“The issue of regulation and the adoption of [blockchain] technology…was discussed, " Hernandez told Caracol Radio, noting that the meeting aimed to form some kind of “joint venture [or] alliance with the government.”

The crypto-focused illicit donation claim is the latest development in a series of campaign-related allegations President Petro has faced during his short presidency. Last year, Colombia's attorney general's office launched an investigation into allegedly illicit financing of Petro’s 2022 campaign, Reuters reported.