SF's Internet Archive gets donation of $1 million worth of bitcoin

A guest walks through the doorway at the Internet Archive during a 20th anniversary celebration of the Internet Archive in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. A guest walks through the doorway at the Internet Archive during a 20th anniversary celebration of the Internet Archive in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close SF's Internet Archive gets donation of $1 million worth of bitcoin 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

A fund set up by an anonymous bitcoin millionaire known only as "Pine" has donated $1 million worth of bitcoin to San Francisco's Internet Archive, the archive announced this week.

"We so admire this donor using Bitcoin as the currency of giving this season, and are honored to be the recipients of such a gift," the Internet Archive said in a statement. "Whoever you are, you are doing a world of good. Thank you."

Pine, the anonymous crypto-philanthropist behind the Pineapple Fund, pledged earlier this month to donate $86 million worth of bitcoin to various causes.

The fund's tagline is: "Because once you have enough money, money doesn't matter."

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The Internet Archive has been cataloguing the web for more than 20 years, with an extensive collection of archived pages visible through the site's Wayback Machine.

"Permanent access to websites, software, books, music ... that is our mission," a recent blog post reads.

The Pineapple Fund donor explained some of their history with cryptocurrency and the thinking behind their philanthropy an interview with Bitcoin Magazine.

"I discovered Bitcoin back when it was a small community of people trying to turn a toy project into a new decentralized monetary paradigm," Pine said.

Of the choice in charities, Pine said, "They align with my values, and I think any contribution to those causes will bring some good to this world we all share."

So far, roughly $15 million worth of bitcoin has been donated across 14 charities, including the Water Project, which builds clean water systems in communities in sub-Saharan Africa, and Sens Research Foundation, which funds research on regenerative medicine and treatments for the diseases of aging.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter