Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has made at least two significant contributions to help victims of last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
On February 6, there was a Turkish-Syrian earthquake measuring 7.8 points. The death toll from this earthquake rose to 33,000, one of the worst earthquakes in the world in decades.
During the week, the Ethereum co-founder was one of many who actively donated Ethereum to support relief efforts in Turkey. His latest donation was made on February 12 in the form of 50 ETH, or roughly $77,000, sent to Anka Relief, according to the blockchain security firm. Packshield.
Anka thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his generosity and said crypto donations have been coming in since day one.
“From the first day of the disaster, we have seen donations accumulate in the wallets of a handful of large non-governmental organizations. It’s great that they have attracted and will attract more funds,” the organization noted.
We want to thank @VitalikButerin for a donation of 50 ETH ~ 75 thousand dollars to Anka Relief, a cryptocurrency relief fund and community to support Turkey after the recent earthquakes. https://t.co/kGwXSGWL8J
Dive into the topic below to better understand our mission and operations
— Anka Relief (@AnkaRelief) February 12, 2023
Anka provided list crypto wallets than can be used for donations. The Web3 aid support organization has also spearheaded the Ukraine DAO project to raise cryptocurrency donations to support efforts in the beleaguered country.
The latest donation is in addition to another 99 ETH that Vitalik sent to support the victims of the earthquake. On February 11, vitalik.eth sent about $150,000 worth of ETH to Ahbap, a non-governmental and non-profit relief organization in Turkey.
Ahbap also has provided multiple crypto addresses for various tokens that it can accept as donations.
To date, he claims to have received $4.3 million in cryptocurrency donations, with stablecoins being the most popular sent tokens. According to Etherscan, Ahbap wallet contains 409 ETH worth $622,000 at the time of writing.
At the end of last week, the London Financial Times informed that donations in cryptocurrency came from all over the world. The companies have sent over $10 million in crypto, with Binance alone donating $5 million to support Turkey’s relief efforts.
Last week, Binance also announced a $100 BNB giveaway to those in the hardest hit areas.
Web3 Community Responds to Turkey-Syria Earthquake Tragedy
On February 7, just a day after the devastating earthquake, Cryptooshala reported that the Web3 community was coming together to organize crypto donations for NGOs and support.
This is not the first time that cryptocurrency has been used for earthquake donations. In 2015, bitcoin donations were sent to relief organizations following a major earthquake in Nepal.
Credit : cointelegraph.com
