Donations made in cryptocurrencies are proving to be a fast and far-reaching means of providing financial aid during times of crisis, according to multiple industry players. This has proven to be the case after devastating earthquakes hit parts of Turkey and Syria in February. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that around $5.9 million of donations have been made to support relief efforts in the region in the month since the natural disaster took place. The likes of Turkey’s Ministry of Interior Earthquake Humanitarian Aid campaign, Turkish Red Crescent, Save the Children and Project Hope have received cryptocurrency-based donations. In addition, …

Polaris Ventures, a charity created by former FTX and Alameda chief of staff Ruairi Donnelly, reportedly wants to access roughly $150 million earned from insider trading on the bankrupt exchange’s tokens. According to a Feb. 14 Wall Street Journal report, Donnelly received roughly $562,000 in salary during his time at FTX, which was converted into FTX Tokens (FTT) at a rate not yet available to the public — $0.05. The former executive reportedly ‘donated’ the tokens to Polaris Ventures, selling them in 2019 and 2020 after public trading opened at price of $1 and making millions. FTX filed for Chapter …

A massive earthquake hit southeastern Turkey along the border with Syria on Feb. 6, which has so far caused the death of more than 5,000 people. The quake had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale, which is internationally categorized as a “major” earthquake, and occurred along 100km (62 miles) of the fault line. Infrastructure in the area suffered major damages, resulting in a deadly cross-border humanitarian disaster. However, the world was quick to respond. Across the internet and various social media platforms, people have been gathering funds for local and international aid organizations to provide relief to those …

The commission in charge of regulating registered charities in England and Wales has announced it had begun investigating Effective Ventures Foundation, an organization tied to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. In a Jan. 30 announcement, the Charity Commission said it had launched the inquiry due to FTX being a “significant funder” of Effective Ventures. According to the commission, Effective Ventures reported its ties to FTX as a “serious incident” potentially affecting other assets, opening the door for the regulator to investigate its trustees. “There is no indication of wrongdoing by the trustees at this time,” said the commission. “However, there are …

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and decentralized finance (DeFi) are redefining how charities raise donations and distribute funds to those most in need. Through ever-evolving crypto and blockchain-related technology, crypto philanthropists told Cointelegraph that they've witnessed “new wealth distribution mechanisms" never seen before. “Philanthropy has traditionally been seen as a high-cost-of-entry, individualistic activity but with web3, collective decision-making bodies like DAOs can use tools that streamline financial coordination and encourage more participation,” explained Omar Antila, Product Lead at Crypto for Charity. “Crypto enables new innovative fundraising strategies, like charitable NFT-drop campaigns, or allowing people to pool their crypto …

Before its downfall, crypto exchange FTX and its then-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had been some of the most prolific spenders in the space, bailing out crypto firms and donating to political campaigns and media outlets. With more than 1 million FTX creditors looking to be made whole, what’s happening with these funds? Bankman-Fried said in May he had been willing to donate between $100 million and $1 billion to lawmakers as part of elections in 2024. Bloomberg reported on Dec. 12 — hours before SBF’s arrest in The Bahamas — that the total donations could be at least $73 million, given …

Humanitarian groups have increasingly used blockchain technology to solve problems with lack of banking or inadequate identity verification in developing or war-torn nations. Two new projects have been announced in December, including one that provides cash aid to Ukrainian refugees through the Stellar network and another that plans to offer cash and vouchers through the Partisia network. But past blockchain projects have had mixed results. Some projects have been effective at allowing recipients to bypass red tape and receive the aid they need, but with others the use of blockchain has turned out to be superfluous. On Dec. 15, Stellar …

Charities accepting crypto donations are setting themselves up for an entirely new demographic of funders — who just so happen to be one of the most giving, according to charity organizations. Alex Wilson, the co-founder of The Giving Block, a crypto donation platform providing back-end support to charities, told Cointelegraph that the crypto community is still a market many charity organizations have nointeracted with. The top charity organizations in the world by funds received including United Way Worldwide, Feeding America, and UNICEF. All three of them accept cryptocurrencies as a means of donation. The Giving Block co-founder said the crypto …

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has tested the capabilities of crypto in a real-world conflict where sanctions and inventive blockchain crowdfunding models abound. The war, which is drawing into its ninth month, has uncovered a raft of blockchain benefits, such as the capacity to support humanitarian endeavors. It has also revealed how much control national authorities can exert over crypto networks. Vadym Synegin, co-founder at IT and crypto solutions provider Tecor, told Cointelegraph that cryptocurrencies have a unique advantage in situations where there is an increased risk of money transfer interruptions due to the centralization of conventional systems. “With most markets controlled …

The hype around nonfungible tokens (NFTs) may be fading, yet a number of organizations continue to implement Web3 initiatives. Nonprofit organizations and activists, in particular, have begun implementing nonfungible token projects to help fundraise and generate awareness for certain causes. While these methods are still new, NFT projects for philanthropy have been met with relative success. A recent report from crypto donation platform The Giving Block found that nonprofits using The Giving Block received more than $12.3 million dollars in cryptocurrency donations from NFT-related charitable giving initiatives in 2021. The report further noted that charitable organizations using NFTs are presented …

Decentralized Ethereum scaling platform, Polygon, has announced a partnership with the Ocean Conservation Exploration and Education Foundation (OCEEF) to promote ocean literacy through new creative, entertaining, and engaging ways to give people exposure to deep underwater missions. A new wave in ocean conservation @oceef_, a world class ocean conservation NGO, is working with #Polygon towards a next-gen ocean conservation initiative. The aim is to offer interactive experiences via a governance platform where participants can assist in key decisions. pic.twitter.com/N40r3iu54f — Polygon - MATIC (@0xPolygon) October 6, 2022 Polygon shared that the aim of this collaboration is to offer interactive experiences …

Cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo has hit back at what it called “fake news” and rumors that its founders were part of a charity embezzlement scandal, saying the claims are untrue and defamatory. It has issued a public cease and desist notice to the originator of the allegations. In a blog post about the claims, Nexo stated: “Several anonymous Twitter accounts are using lies and distortion in yet another smear campaign against Nexo and profiting from short positions in a distressed market.” The pseudonymous Twitter account otteroooo, who call themselves “Otter,” posted a series of tweets on Saturday claiming that Nexo’s …