The crypto community has rushed to donate funds after a pair of powerful tremors flattened buildings and left whole regions without power, water and other vital services.
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The crypto community has raised and pledged more than $11 million — less than 48 hours after a pair of strong earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria, leaving more than 9,400 dead and many more injured.
A number of crypto exchanges have made big pledges, led by Binance, which will airdrop $100 worth of BNB to all of its users in the hardest-hit regions of Turkey — almost $5 million. In all, $9 million has been promised.
Tron founder Justin Sun has pledged $1 million in TRX for the Huobi Global exchange.
And Turkish Rock Star Haluk Levent was able to gain a special exemption to the country's crypto ban, setting up a trio of multisig wallets that have attracted more than $2.7 million, including $1 million from the Avalanche foundation in AVAX.
Levant's existing charity Ahbap will supervise the collection and distribution of the funds.
Baki Er, co-founder of Web3 analytics platform Lytera.io, called Ahbap "the most trusted charity organization in Turkey."
They are:
Ethereum/ERC-20 tokens:
0xe1935271D1993434A1a59fE08f24891Dc5F398Cd
BNB/BEP-20 tokens:
0xB67705398fEd380a1CE02e77095fed64f8aCe463
Avalanche AVAX tokens:
0x868D27c361682462536DfE361f2e20B3A6f4dDD8
Other donation addresses widely acknowledged to be legitimate include Humanity Check, by artist and Visualize Value founder Jack Butcher, which is sending all proceeds to Doctors Without Borders via crypto charitable donations firm The Giving Block.
The Right Stuff
While many people try to donate things they have, clearing out a closet isn't very helpful, said Lucy Easthope, co-founder of the After Disaster Network and an international adviser on disaster recovery. She told the BBC World News:
"The most important, helpful thing at this moment is money. There are non-governmental organizations and charities and governmental organizations all powering-in now to help. What they need not just now, but for years ahead, is cash."
And crypto, which began with Bitcoin as a bank-free, cross-border payments tool, fits that bill.
As for Binance, the world's largest exchange said it was basing the donations on Proof of Address completed before Feb. 6. CoinMarketCap is owned by Binance.
In its announcement, Binance said that "in the aftermath of natural disasters, people often lose access to traditional banking at the exact moment when extra funds are needed to help cover medical supplies, food and other essential needs." It added:
"Crypto transfers are now increasingly being used to deliver financial aid to disaster victims as they provide fast, low-cost, borderless and transparent transactions."
