Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple, and his wife, Lyna Lam, have donated $25 million in XRP to San Francisco State University.

There are a number of different resources that colleges can tap into for funding, such as the government and businesses. However, nothing beats alumni when it comes to raising capital for endowments. San Francisco State University is a prime example of this as they have just received a $25 million donation from the co-founder of Ripple, Chris Larsen, and his wife, Lyna Lam.

Giving the Gift of XRP

The donation was announced at a recent university celebration. Larsen graduated from San Francisco State University back in 1984 from the school’s College of Business. The donation is in the form of XRP and is coming from Rippleworks, the nonprofit foundation created by Ripple’s founders.

The $25 million donation is considered to be the largest contribution to a university that’s in the form of cryptocurrency. The charitable gift will support two endowed chairs and the “Lam-Larsen Fund for Global Innovation.” The fund focuses on supporting students who are “learning about and becoming changemakers of local and global entrepreneurial and fintech ecosystems.”

Of this massive XRP donation, University President Leslie E. Wong said:

This groundbreaking gift will position the College of Business as an evolving, distinctly diverse and industry-relevant epicenter of business innovation and entrepreneurship. Chris, Lyna and Rippleworks are innovators, and their gift will inspire our students to creatively and strategically approach the business and tech landscapes to become the next generation of entrepreneurs and global business leaders.

Cryptocurrency and Charity

While a lot of pundits from the world of traditional finance continue to throw FUD at cryptocurrency, the reality is that virtual currencies are doing a lot of good for charities. Ripple donated $29 million in XRP last year to public schools to help teachers stock up their classrooms.

The Sacramento Kings of the NBA installed cryptocurrency mining machines in their data center last year. The basketball team partnered up with MiningForGood to mine Ethereum to fund the Build Black Coalition, a charity created to bring positive change to black communities.

Vivek Ranadivé, owner of the Sacramento Kings, said:

Opportunity begins when technology allows the world to find innovative solutions to complex problems. Through MiningForGood, not only will we raise funds to help with workforce development and training, we aim to inspire the next generation of tinkerers and thinkers to create change in their own community and around the globe.

Then there’s the Pineapple Fund, created by an early investor in Bitcoin. He decided that he had made enough money off of Bitcoin, so he gave the rest away to a lot of worthy causes. To date, the Pineapple Fund has donated $55 million to charity.

Images courtesy of San Francisco State University, Shutterstock, and Pexels.