Costa Rica warns about crypto assets in political financing and strengthens its controls

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Costa Rica expressed concern about the entry of crypto assets into political financing and the increase in investigations into financiers, which reached 155 solvency studies in the 2026 presidential campaign. The agency seeks to reinforce the traceability of private resources in light of larger operations and new ways to mobilize money to parties. According to the media outlet CRHoy, the TSE has started a pilot plan to implement the Comprehensive System for the Oversight of Political Party Finances, a platform aimed at supervising party accounts in real time. The first training session gathered representatives from 11 political groups and was supported by the Institute of Training and Studies in Democracy. The tool will have an accounting module adapted to Costa Rican electoral financing and another aimed at transfer certificates, from their issuance to placement. It also plans controls over membership fees, contributions received by groups, and loans. The solvency studies applied to individuals who contributed money to campaigns or purchased debt bonds increased from 83 in 2022 to 155 in 2026. The review covers resources amounting to ₡3.4 billion (USD 7,482.52), compared to ₡2.8 billion (USD 6,162.07) analyzed during the previous presidential campaign. In the 2020 municipal elections, the electoral body conducted 65 studies for ₡836,374,719.97 (USD 1,840,643.30). For the 2024 municipal elections, the number dropped to 40 procedures, corresponding to ₡503,124,285 (USD 1,107.25). These controls allow verification of who is listed as a contributor, whether they have the financial capacity to make the contribution, and what the actual source of the funds is. Guiselle Valverde, head of Financial Information Oversight in the Political Party Financing Department, explained to CRHoy that the challenge is not limited to identifying who makes a transfer or gives money. The official stated that new ways of moving resources require updating supervision methods. "Not only are we concerned, but we are also occupied. Identifying the contributor is one of the essential control elements," she said. The Political Party Financing Department uses a threshold of $10,000 or ₡5 million to open solvency studies on donors, contributors, financiers, buyers of transfer certificates, suppliers, or lenders. However, it can lower that limit when it detects risk factors in smaller operations. The 2026 campaign also recorded contributions and acquisitions of transfer certificates exceeding ₡50 million (USD 110,037.00) and even over ₡100 million (USD 220,074.00). Valverde indicated that this volume of individual operations had not been presented in the same way in previous electoral processes. Of the 155 studies linked to the last presidential election, 15 were referred to the investigations area of the department to expand the proceedings on the origin and traceability of the resources. The TSE has not sent reports to the Prosecutor's Office regarding possible irregularities in donations, contributions, transfer certificates, or contributions from that process. Ronald Chacón, head of the Political Party Financing Department of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, specified that the cases remain in an initial stage. "The files related to the most recent electoral process remain open and in development, in the phase of collecting and evaluating evidentiary materials," he stated in comments reported by CRHoy.

The shift from expense review to the source of money

Between 2010 and 2018, preliminary administrative investigations mainly focused on the use of resources by political groups and the accuracy of declared expenses during campaigns. Since 2022, attention has shifted to the origin of funds and the modalities used to make contributions. Apparent irregularities related to expense liquidation have appeared less frequently since then, while the number of solvency analyses and investigations into possible electoral offenses related to financing has increased. According to the official, five presidential campaign files reached the Public Ministry since the entry into force of the Electoral Code of 2009. These transfers did not necessarily imply that the technical department had concluded the existence of irregularities. Some files were required in the context of criminal investigations, and others were delivered by court orders for the seizure of information, as they contain data protected by banking secrecy.

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