A German national who reportedly sees his Bitcoin profits as “undeserved wealth” has donated more than $1 million to the country’s green political party. According to Hamburg-based news outlet Die Zeit, Moritz Schmidt, a software developer from the northeastern town of Greifswald, has sent 1 million euro — roughly $1.2 million — to Germany’s green party, known as The Greens or Alliance 90. A party spokesperson said Schmidt had made significant gains during the Bitcoin (BTC) bull run but wanted to contribute to causes related to environmental and climate protection rather than hodling his crypto. “The donor has made it …

"It's worth a try," wrote New York Times columnist Kevin Roose of his attempt to auction one of his articles as a non-fungible token (NFT). Just a day later, however, it appears to be worth much more than that. After publishing a step-by-step NFT explainer titled "Buy This Column on the Blockchain!" on Wednesday, Roose has successfully auctioned today what he calls a "digital original" of his article as an NFT on the Foundation platform, raising over $550,000 for charity. The last half-hour of the auction was a particularly exciting one, with a bidding war breaking out to drive up …

Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter sold a tokenized representation of his first-ever tweet for more than $2.9 million on Monday. The tweet was published on March 21, 2006, and reads: just setting up my twttr — jack (@jack) March 21, 2006 A two-week bidding war between Bridge Oracle CEO Sina Estavi and tech entrepreneur Justin Sun saw the price move from $500,000 to the final sale of more than $2.9 million, with Sina Estavi winning out with a bid of 1,630 Ether (ETH). On March 10, Dorsey stated that would immediately convert the proceeds from the sale into Bitcoin …

Crypto and blockchain adoption for humanitarian causes is set for another expansion as the Danish Red Cross has sponsored a catastrophe bond aimed at providing relief in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. According to CIR Magazine, the catastrophe bond — often shortened to cat bond — has the backing of private firms and other humanitarian establishments with investors like Solidum Partners and Plenum Investments associated with the project. Using blockchain technology developed by Replexus — an insurance risk securitization outfit — the cat bond aims to raise funds for humanitarian relief and expedite its release in the aftermath of …

There is a running gag among many Texans that anytime someone drops a cup filled with ice, it’s enough of a reason to cancel school — major winter storms are so rare that authorities don’t often have the means to clear and salt icy streets. However, what happened last month in the Lone Star State was no joke. Millions of people experienced a week-long storm with sub-zero temperatures, many impassable streets, burst water pipes, and days without power. In mid-February, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, had been forced to shut down large areas of the state’s independent …

The original “I Can Has Cheezburger?” meme has become the latest symbol of popular culture to be immortalized as an NFT. The meme’s creator, Eric Nakagawa, announced his foray into a series of lolcat NFTs on Feb. 23. “Happy Cat” — the crown jewel of Nakgawa’s NFT release — is being auctioned on NFT marketplace OpenSea, with the highest bid currently sitting at 0.25 ETH. Cool to see all the most important internet history becoming NFTs https://t.co/EclycEXupY — Micah Baldwin (@micah) February 22, 2021 The 10 piece series, titled “No Fries Today,” comprises early lolcat memes and meme-inspired artwork. Some …

With roughly 100 million members, the church representing the dominant religion in Russia has no plans to accept cryptocurrency donations or offerings. According to a Q&A streamed on YouTube by Jesus Portal, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Hilarion Alfeyev, said the Russian Orthodox Church, or ROC, is not planning to create its own digital currency, nor is it planning to accept cryptocurrency including Bitcoin (BTC) for donations. However, Alfeyev added it was possible to use other forms of technology to send money to the church: phone calls. "We are unlikely to accept …

2021 is shaping up to be a generous year for cryptocurrency donations. On Wednesday, Coin Center, the leading cryptocurrency nonprofit in Washington, D.C., announced that it had raised millions in additional funding from high-profile names in the crypto industry. Jerry Brito, Coin Center’s executive director, tweeted that his organization had received enough donations to claim the $1 million in matched contributions from Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest crypto fund manager. Less than three weeks ago, Grayscale announced that it had donated $1 million to the advocacy group and pledged an additional $1 million in matched contributions. A few days later, …

A new non-profit aiming to fund Bitcoin development education and research has been approved for special tax status, conferring benefits on donors. Brink, which launched in the fall, has been approved as a 503(c)(3) organization according to a Feb. 10 blog post. The status both exempts Brink from federal taxes and provides some interesting benefits to donors, especially considering their use of Bitcoin. Donations to 503(c)(3) organizations in the U.S. have always been an important tax write-off, but considering the long-term confusion over the IRS seemingly asking for Bitcoin users to pay capital gains taxes on any use of Bitcoin …

The Monero community has posted a proposal to add XMR as a payment option on the Tesla website. Shortly after Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors hinted that they may start accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments its electric cars, the Monero community suggested that XMR could also be a good payment option. After posting a CCS proposal on Feb. 9, the Monero community has raised 890 XMR ($155,000) in a move to add Monero as a payment option for a new Tesla alongside Bitcoin. As part of the proposal, the community will strive to get Musk’s attention during a 21-day period starting on …

Kraken has pledged $100,000 to Coin Center, a cryptocurrency advocacy group based in Washington D.C. In a blog from the crypto exchange today, Kraken said it had donated the funds to promote Coin Center’s work in educating regulators about digital assets an advancing the rights of crypto users. The exchange said that the advocacy group "has been a vanguard for challenging policies such as the proposed STABLE act as well as recent rushed Financial Crimes Enforcement Network rulemaking." "At a time when misinformation about this new technology remains high, we call on all industry leaders to join us in funding …

In collaboration with crypto donations company The Giving Block, the American Cancer Society has set up the Cancer Crypto Fund, which seeks to raise at least $1 million by early 2021 to fund ongoing research initiatives. Donations to fund cancer research plunged 50% in 2020, reaching the lowest this century, according to the American Cancer Society. The sharp drop-off was attributed to the economic impact of COVID-19. According to the American Cancer Society: “The crypto community's contributions will help re-establish crucial research funding for new discoveries and better treatments to save the lives of family and friends.” The first crypto …