The past decade has produced an eruption in diverse giving channels and options for donating, changing the patterns of how people give. According to Blackbaud, online giving has shown steady increases, growing from 6.4% of all giving in 2013 to 8.5% in 2018. Hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies have been donated as well, with notable donations including over $100 million to Fidelity Charitable, $29 million to DonorsChoose, $4 million to The Ellen Degeneres Wildlife Fund and many more. From industry startups designing programs that make donating cryptocurrency easier, to charities being more receptive to actually taking those donations, …

Today eight technology companies from seven different emergent economies will receive an investment of Ethereum cryptocurrency from the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund. UNICEF’s crypto-enabled investment vehicle has given these companies 125 ETH, worth approximately $28,600, to use in scaling or prototyping their respective technologies over the next six months. Companies receiving this investment have already received as much as $100,000 in fiat currency from UNICEF’s Innovation Fund. One such company, Afinidata, offers educational content to parents with young children. Another one, Cireha, builds communication systems for children with speech or language impairments to use in the offline world. These are companies …

The crypto community is incredibly financially literate and savvy. Despite everyone calling for crypto adoption and more merchants to accept crypto as payment, most people want to accumulate more crypto, not spend it. Holders think it will be worth more in the future, so why spend it now? Spending Bitcoin (BTC) at Starbucks for a cup of coffee is a huge pain in the side. Although the transaction itself might be relatively painless with the help of a mobile app, the accounting and tax implications can be frightening if you’re transacting on a regular basis. This is because the United …

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of popular messaging app Telegram, has purportedly resumed his charity activity soon after terminating Telegram’s blockchain project. Known for philanthropic activity, including a $1 million donation to Wikipedia, Durov has donated 10 bitcoins (BTC) to a charity project in Russia. The coins are worth around $96,000 at time of publication. Donation will help people facing financial difficulties due to coronavirus The new donation intends to support a project backed by political activist, Yegor Zhukov — who established himself as a symbol of anti-Kremlin protests. The donated Bitcoin will be spent to help people facing financial …

This week’s headlines from Japan included BitBank exchange adding three trading pairs, Bitpoint exchange posting decreased fiscal year totals, Bitpoint adding information on its 2019 hack, and Binance donating masks to Japanese nursing homes through its charity arm. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. BitBank adds three more asset pairings Japan's BitBank exchange gave details this week on three upcoming additional trading pairs. The platform originally unveiled the fresh pairs in late April. On May 24, BitBank will complete a four-hour offline upgrade to put the pairs into play. After the …

Lockdown shouldn’t mean pop and lock-down. That’s just one takeaway from today’s free electronic dance music concert organized by The Giving Block and Multiplied to benefit charities on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concert is live streamed on May 5th from 6 pm - 10 pm Eastern Time (10 pm - 2 am GMT) and features some of the most popular EDM artists in the club world — including blockchain advocate 3LAU, Grammy award-winner RAC, Kill Paris, and ill.Gates. 3LAU has remixed artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, while RAC counts U2, …

Peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency marketplace Paxful announced on May 4 the expansion of its #BuiltWithBitcoin charitable initiative in Africa with the launch of the “Africa Fund.” The fund will use Bitcoin (BTC) donations to purchase essential resources for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. According to the announcement, COVID-19 cases are increasing in Africa “at exponential rates.” Fundraising aims to acquire Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), food packs, and provide high-risk individuals with groceries and handwashing stations. Paxful will start the fund with $15,000 and match any additional donations submitted up to $15,000 in BTC. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Paxful CEO Ray Youseff …

Speaking at Virtual Blockchain Week (VBW), Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao (CZ) argued that stablecoins and charity initiatives can drive meaningful cryptocurrency adoption. CZ also discussed Binance Academy’s work with Chinese government institutions on blockchain projects and revealed that he hopes Binance can influence the shape of the country’s regulatory strategy Crypto charity programs drive adoption During his ‘fireside chat’ with VBW’s hosts, CZ asserted that crypto-based charity programs are driving meaningful cryptocurrency adoption worldwide. “If I'm going to give you some donation in crypto, you are more likely to go and get a wallet or register an …

Blockchain platform Waves.Exchange has launched a new prediction market allowing users to bet on whether the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has passed its peak. Customers can now purchase ‘COVID-UP-SEP20’ and ‘COVID-DOWN-SEP20’ tokens to bet on whether the number of new weekly cases worldwide will exceed April 4–10’s record of 595,802 confirmed infections before September. Waves.Exchange’s tokens are purchased in exchange for the stablecoin, Neutrino Dollar (USDN). All USDN used to buy the tokens are locked in escrow until September, and then distributed among the winners. The campaign will ostensibly contribute to coronavirus charity initiatives. Making waves with their new …

Seychelles-registered crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has become the latest industry actor to join philanthropic efforts to fight the COVID-19 global health crisis. On April 20, the exchange’s operator, HDR Global Trading, launched a dedicated COVID-19 Response Fund and announced its contribution of a total $2.5 million in grants to four recipients. The company contends that as a fintech, the best way for it to contribute to global efforts is through “strategically directed funds [that] can fill gaps in the global response and rapidly empower well-equipped but under-resourced organizations.” Following a consultation with a philanthropic advisory group, HDR Global Trading has …

The crypto community is rallying around the charge to fight COVID-19, with a variety of initiatives raising money to fight the pandemic and support charities on the front lines of the battle. The most recent: an online poker tournament, open to anyone and featuring a host of well-known crypto faces. The Giving Block has partnered with a number of high-profile cryptocurrency and blockchain firms to promote #CryptoCOVID19, a campaign to raise $100K — which kicked off with a matching pledge of $50k each from Vitalik Buterin and Gitcoin for all donations made in ETH or DAI on the Gitcoin platform. …

Twitter CEO and Square founder Jack Dorsey has started a new fund called Start Small LLC, aimed at fighting COVID-19. He’s seeding the fund with $1 billion, roughly 28% of his wealth. He shared the news via Twitter: Source: Twitter The fund’s efforts will initially focus fighting the global pandemic currently dominating the news cycle, but will eventually switch to providing money for girl’s health, education and universal basic income (UBI) initiatives. Dorsey is really putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to taking action to improve the world: “I believe they represent the best long-term solutions …