Ever heard of donations in crypto? There are many crypto projects working for the betterment of our society and environment. Learn more!
The cryptocurrency comprises many individuals who will gladly give back to charities and other good causes. Over the years, there has been a growing number of donors, some of which will contribute vast amounts of money to projects that need immediate financial aid. The borderless nature of cryptocurrencies makes that process more manageable, and more charities now accept crypto donations than ever before.
Why Do Crypto Donations Matter?
Cryptocurrencies are decentralized currencies that operate globally without any physical infrastructure. There are no offices, personnel, managers, or anything else. Instead, it is accessible via the internet, from any device one can think of. As a result, it creates a new paradigm for transferring value and brings more liquidity to charitable organizations worldwide.
Several service providers will help charities accept cryptocurrency donations.
The Giving Block Crypto Donation Leaderboard
Some of the names on The Giving Block's donation leaderboard will ring a bell. For example, not too many people would expect to see Tony Hawk on the list, even though Tony has shown a keen interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the years. Contributions to Charity Water date back several years. Moreover, Hawk founded The Skatepark project, which also accepts Bitcoin donations.
Charlie Shrem, FTX, The Giving Block itself, and many others have contributed to helping charitable causes, schools, nonprofits, and other efforts over the years.
Moreover, one private donor on this leaderboard has contributed $3.5 million to date. The identity of this person or company remains unknown, nor is it clear which causes this person contributed to. However, it illustrates the giving nature of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Several other donations and efforts have made headlines over the years.
COVID-19 Donations Pour in
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to make its mark on the world. Several regions have been stricken hard by lockdowns, financial issues, etc. With the help of prominent cryptocurrency companies and other industry members, some relief has been offered in the past 18 months. Below are some noteworthy examples:
- Binance pledged $1.5 million to help victims of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Funds were to be used to buy medical supplies and other necessities. Moreover, the Binance Charity project issued 20,000 testing kits and 366,000 pairs of gloves - among other things - to Wuhan. The team created a new campaign to raise an extra $5 million to support other countries affected by COVID-19.
- The Giving Block established the CryptoCovid19 alliance by matching $100,000 in Ether on the DAI platform in March 2021. Moreover, together with Brave, Gemini, Axion Finance, and others, an extra $500,000 was raised.
- Ripple Labs donated $200,000 to COVID-19 efforts in late March 2021. Moreover, they donated $100,000 to the Tipping Point Community, a nonprofit entity raising $1.1 million for US-based coronavirus victims.
- BitMEX, a derivatives exchange, donated $2.5 million to support the fight against COVID-19. The funds were distributed to four organizations: the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Gates Philanthropy Partners, Our World in Data, and OpenMinded.
- Golem, Tezos, and Bitfury contributed computing power to Foldign@Home to help researchers identify solutions to thwart the coronavirus. Several hundred Tezos coins were set aside to incentivize more crypto users to get in on the action.
- Jack Dorsey, the former Twitter CEO, moved $1 billion to Start Small LLC, a company fighting COVID-19. It is unclear how much of this amount involves cryptocurrencies.
- Vitalik Buterin donated $1 billion in Shiba Inu coins to COVID-Crypto Relief Fund in India. Buterin received 50% of the maximum Shiba Inu supply when the creators launched the token, ad decided to use the majority of the coins for a charitable cause. Cashing out that large amount has been difficult, however.
Other Recent Noteworthy Cryptocurrency Donations
Several other donation-oriented initiatives have taken place over the years, including:
- As prominent Bitcoin supporters, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss matched a donation for Charity: water, bringing the total to 100 BTC - valued at $4.7 million at the time.
- An anonymous donor contributed $1.2 million in cryptocurrency to the Austin Community Foundation. Not much is known about the donor, other than them getting into cryptocurrency at an early stage.
- The Liberland Aid Foundation, founded by the supporters of the Republic of Liberland, contributed over 1 Bitcoin to the Benjamin Bloom National Childrens' Hospital in El Salvador in November 2021.
- Fidelity Charitable, the largest grantmaker in the United States, received $274 million in cryptocurrency donations since early 2021, smashing through the 2017 record of $69 million.
- International Animal Rescue raised over $50,000 in crypto donations since setting up its wallets in November 2021.
Will This Trend Continue?
As more charitable organizations are accepting crypto donations, there is a good chance that enthusiasts will keep contributing to good causes. Using Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies bypasses any geographical restrictions imposed by traditional payment solutions. Moreover, it is easy to integrate crypto donation support through The Giving Block or by setting up a non-custodial solution like BTCPay. That has resulted in a 583% increase on Giving Tuesday, which noted an average donation of $12,600.
Large charities and aid agencies, including The American Red Cross, Save The Children, the American Cancer Society, Cool Earth, Give2asia, Charity: Water, Children International, and others enabled crypto donations some time ago. They were later joined by Action Against Hunger, who raised over $1 million in crypto donations since allowing this option.
Donations made in cryptocurrency bring more legitimacy to the industry. Cryptocurrencies are often seen as speculative rather than payment tools and solutions. All donations to charitable organizations can change many people's lives, making it a worthwhile cause to explore.
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