Cryptocurrency holders and builders from around the world are pitching in funds to help India battle with the rising number of cases in the country, data and tweets from multiple sources show.
This weekend, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated over $640,000 worth of Ethereum (ETH) and Maker (MKR) towards a crypto-focused relief fund to fight the coronavirus situation in India.
Thanks for organizing this @sandeepnailwal and thanks a lot for pointing this out @balajis!https://t.co/2PBOQKYuZqhttps://t.co/uOzQ15sZnL
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 24, 2021
As per Buterin’s public Ethereum address, over 100 ETH and 100 MKR were donated to the aptly-named ‘India Covid-Crypto Relief Fund’ wallet.
With the move, Buterin’s stepping in where the country’s government, politicians, and high-heeled celebrities have failed. He’s part of the rising cohort of crypto individuals who are donating some of their newfound wealth towards mitigating troubles in the country.
When crypto steps in
India, home to 1.3 billion people, faces one of the worst crises. Over 3 million new virus cases were reported in the past day alone, bringing the number of total cases to a staggering 14 million—or nearly 10% of the entire world.
There’s a shortage of oxygen tanks, hospital beds, and, apparently, even money. Oxygen tanks, in particular, have turned into somewhat of a political tug-of-war with members of the ruling party hoarding up supplies for themselves (and people who vote for them).
But individuals of the local crypto industry have taken notice and are uniting others for the cause. Last weekend, Sandeep Nailwal, the Delhi-based co-founder of layer-2 blockchain firm Polygon, said in a now-viral tweet that he would manage and run a ‘Covid relief campaign’ to help the underprivileged in the country.
“I will take full responsibility for transparency, funds usage and regulatory compliance,” he noted, given India’s reluctance about cryptocurrencies in general.
I have a few channels via which we can strive to get Oxygen, food, probably vaccines and more to the needy ones
All expense details will be published publicly and more ppl will be added to the working group.
3/n
— Sandeep – Polygon(prev Matic Network) (@sandeepnailwal) April 24, 2021
The tweet was promptly picked up with Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO at crypto exchange Coinbase, who urged his 325,000 followers to join in on the movement. “Consider joining me and VitalikButerin by donating at the addresses below…For every RT, I’ll donate another $50 to fight COVID in India, up to $100k,” he tweeted.
If you’ve been fortunate enough to do well this year, consider joining me and @VitalikButerin by donating at the addresses below.
But if all you have is Twitter, help spread the word. For every RT, I’ll donate another $50 to fight COVID in India, up to $100k. #cryptovscovid https://t.co/eKlOlccelv
— balajis.com (@balajis) April 25, 2021
Nailwal has since updated the list to include Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Cosmos, Tezos, Solana, Litecoin, and others. The relief wallet shows nearly $1.7 million worth of various cryptocurrencies at press time.
Since @VitalikButerin first donated 100 ETH + 100 MKR to help COVID efforts in India, 1 day later @sandeepnailwal has collected:
$1,314,651 in donations
That’s ~280 transactions, including
255 ETH
https://t.co/mJsdPFxxnK https://t.co/EcpQpy2jew pic.twitter.com/w6kTZuvSpB
— DeFi Dad ⟠ defidad.eth (@DeFi_Dad) April 25, 2021
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