As the coronavirus is still causing many deaths worldwide and putting a strain on all medical resources, many companies from the blockchain and crypto industry have jumped in with donations to help with the fight against COVID-19.
Here are some of the most notable crypto companies that have donated funds to alleviate the damages provoked by this pandemic.
Square
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Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, has announced that he will be donating $1 billion worth of Square shares to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The sum represents around 30% of his estimated net worth.
According to Dorsey, after the COVID-19 epidemic, the donations will later be redirected to other causes in need of financing, including women’s health, education, and universal basic income. “Why UBI and girl’s health and education? I believe they represent the best long-term solutions to the existential problems facing the world. UBI is a great idea needing experimentation,” tweeted the CEO.
I’m moving $1B of my Square equity (~28% of my wealth) to #startsmall LLC to fund global COVID-19 relief. After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI. It will operate transparently, all flows tracked here: https://t.co/hVkUczDQmz
— jack (@jack) April 7, 2020
To keep matters transparent, the donations will be recorded in a public Google Sheet so the funds can be tracked. $100,000 has been donated so far to America’s Food Fund, a charity co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs and Leonardo DeCaprio.
Why pull just from Square and not Twitter? Simply: I own a lot more Square. And I’ll need to pace the sales over some time. The impact this money will have should benefit both companies over the long-term because it’s helping the people we want to serve.
— jack (@jack) April 7, 2020
Dorsey has made the biggest individual contribution to date, followed by Bill and Melinda Gates, who have pledged to donate $100 million, which is less than 1% of their net worth.
The reason why the funds will be made in Square stock is that the CEO owns far more equity in the payment company than on Twitter, explained Dorsey.
Binance
Starting from January, top cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, assigned $1.4 million for the purchase of medical supplies, which were donated to Chinese authorities in order to help them face the distressing impact of the coronavirus.
The initiative called “Binance for Wuhan”, supplied a total of 366,000 pairs of gloves, 56,800 masks, 9 sterilizers, 5,280 bottles of hand sanitizer, 20,000 testing kits, 7,850 protective suits, 20,000 pairs of goggles, 388 oxygen concentrators, 1,000 germicidal lamps and an estimated five tons of sanitizer to over 300 hospitals and medical teams in multiple provinces/cities, including Hubei, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Shanghai.
The senior vice president of Binance Charity, Jarred Winn, stated that 124 hospitals, medical teams, and command wings had received seven batches of medical supplies. Wuhan University People’s Hospital received the germicidal lamps, later distributing them to 74 medical teams and health centers, and the hotels where the medical teams were staying.
“The most important element of human life is to show compassion and help others as we can, without the limitation or restriction of borders. Blockchain technology enables this in greater capacities than ever before and Binance Charity wishes to bring this to the masses,” said Head of Binance Charity, Helen Hai.
Binance Charity now started a new COVID initiative that has a set goal of $5 million in cryptocurrencies, which will be used to buy more medical items for other countries affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Most of the funds will be used to buy key medical equipment and supplies and send them to the countries that are most affected, including Italy, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Iran, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Commenting on the developing coronavirus situation, Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO of Binance, was quoted as saying: “We encourage the community to take part in this initiative as we unite against COVID-19, and together, we’ll drive impact.”
Regarding the transparency issue many charities face, Win responded:
“With blockchain technology, transparency and immutability allow any user to see that funds have been transferred to an individual with 100% certainty, and subsequently, in this case, there are no secrets in giving.”
Stellar Foundation
The Stellar Lumens Foundation has stated that it will donate 2.5 million XLM to a number of charities, such as UNICEF and the Tor Project, to help with the Coronavirus crisis.
The first batch that will be donated consists of 100,000 XLM, and it will be distributed among 6 charities.
According to SDF CEO, Denelle Dixon, the Foundation has stability and reserves of XLM that can be used to help other people overcome these dire times.
The Stellar Development Foundation will accomplish its goal in conjunction with the Stellar Lumens community. According to the publication:
Stellar has an active community. With the combined power of those two things, we can work together to help organizations that are creating vital change in the world, and we can help them today.
The 2.5 million XLM will be collected through the Lumenthropy program, which will distribute the funds to a selected group of charities that accept XLM. The Stellar Development Foundation will fund charities such as UNICEF, the Tor Project, Heifer International, Watsi, Freedom of the Press, and Women Who Code.
The Foundation will match all donations made for the COVID 19 cause and keep the community updated on the progress made:
“We’re grateful to Lumenthropy for their partnership because their work represents the amazing impact this network and this community can make, not just in this time of crisis but well beyond. The time and effort they’ve put in to bring non-profits onboard with our technology is an inspiration, and we’re excited that they are in conversations to expand this service to even more organizations.”
Ripple Labs
Ripple Labs tweeted on March 25, announcing that the company has donated a total of $200,000 to the Tipping Point Community and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The money sent to the organizations will be used in preventing the spread of COVID-19 throughout the United States as the country has officially surpassed the number of confirmed cases than those reported in China.
In these challenging times, Ripple is committed to being part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re starting in our own backyard with $100K donations each to @tippingpoint‘s COVID emergency response fund and @siliconvalleycf’s COVID Regional Response Fund. (1/2)
— Ripple (@Ripple) March 25, 2020
Tipping Point Community is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that recently established its Emergency Response Fund, which aims to collect $1 million for the COVID-19 initiative. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s COVID Regional Response Fund will dedicate its efforts towards containing the COVID-19 outbreak within the Silicon Valley region.
Conclusion
In these times of crisis, many people and organizations are trying to help those in need by donating their money. The crypto industry has also quickly responded to the severe lack of medical resources, prompting many companies to make sizable donations for the fight against COVID 19.
Featured image: devoninsight.org.uk
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