Crypto Assets Bolster the Season of Giving in 2017

The season of giving is here, and individuals all around the world have been giving away lots of valuable cryptocurrencies during the holidays. As the digital asset economy continues to gain value, people have been donating to charitable causes more so than ever before.

See also: Markets Update: Bitcoin Price Moves Sideways During the Holiday Lull

People Are Donating Cryptocurrencies More So Than Ever Before

Just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Pineapple Fund giving away $86M worth of bitcoin away to charitable causes. The month of December people donated more funds than any other month of the year and it’s been no different with cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin core (BTC) is not the only cryptocurrency helping people in need, as other digital assets are now being used to fund many different causes. For instance, the nonprofit, Pathways to Education, from Canada, is now accepting bitcoin cash (BCH) donations, and BCH supporters have been sending fund their way.

70 Children Get Toys for Christmas — Thanks to Bitcoin Cash Donations

Further this week a few of the organizers of the Anarchapulco conference, Lisa and Nathan Freeman, gave 70 children from a local orphanage Christmas gifts paid for with bitcoin cash. Nathan Freeman tells news.Bitcoin.com that around seven months ago he bought a cloud mining contract for each member of his family. This week the Freeman’s cashed out the 1.1 BCH for pesos and applied it to a Mexican bank card. The next day the Freeman’s traveled to the local Walmart, and all the children purchased gifts for themselves.

“Today Nathan Freeman and I did something we never thought we would be able to do,” explains Lisa Freeman. “We were able to buy Christmas presents for 70 kids from the Marsh Home for children.

We were told it was a first for them as most of the things they have at home have been donated — The children were super excited to be able to pick out the exact thing that they personally wanted.

Archive.org Receives 2X More Donations In BCH Than BTC

Earlier this month, Archive.org, the website that offers free access to archived collections of digital materials and data revealed it received 2X more donations in bitcoin cash than BTC during the holidays. According to the website, the nonprofit’s yearly donation drive got 45 BTC donations for a total sum $2,114. Then the website’s representative stated that they had received 84 BCH donations totaling $4,817. “BTC also has 14 transactions stuck in the mempool, for about $250 more,” explains Archive.org.

The ‘Merry Merkle Tree’ Event Gives Enough Ether to Feed 100 kids Meals Three Times a Day for Three Months

Another example of charitable giving this year tied to cryptocurrencies took place in Toronto this week. An event called the “Merry Merkle Tree” decided to give Toronto’s Covenant House a wallet filled with ethereum (ETH). The Toronto Covenant House is a youth shelter that gives kids a home for six months to a year.

“We noticed there’s a lot of people who made a lot of money this year in this space, and a lot of people who have a real desire to give back and we thought this would be something cool that was just fun for a really good cause — Our community just wanted to try it out, and the results were really, really awesome,” explained Truebit executive Robbie Bent who helped organize the event.

The Merry Merkle Tree event saw over 200 people show up to the Assembly Chef’s Hall on Richmond Street and raised 86 ETH (US$65,000) for the kids. Organizers said the funds were enough to provide nearly 100 kids meals three times a day for roughly three months. Bruce Rivers, Covenant House executive director, explained his organization is incredibly grateful for the donations, stating:

We are excited about this new opportunity to raise funds for our agency through cryptocurrency.

Many noble cryptocurrency enthusiasts are helping charitable causes, and some of them are donating more funds than they’ve ever been able to give. Further, people giving away a lot of digital asset donations has opened more nonprofits and charities up to the idea of accepting them in the future.

What do you think about people donating their valuable cryptocurrencies to charitable causes this year? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Inside Toronto, Merry Merkle Tree, and the Freeman family.

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