Blockchain Firm BitGive Organizes Fundraising Rally for COVID-19 Relief

The world’s first bitcoin and blockchain nonprofit has joined forces with several fundraising organizations to provide financial support for people impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

BitGive is teaming up with nonprofits and NGOs to harness an RSK blockchain solution to transparently record donations from around the world. The collective includes entities such as Direct Relief, GiveDirectly and One Fair Wage Emergency Fund, with $20,000 the initial fundraising target.

Donations – which can be made in cryptocurrency as well as fiat – will be allocated to the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers, financial relief to individuals who have lost their jobs, and global funding for those who are otherwise in need. In the United States alone, over 30 million people have filed for jobless aid since the outbreak prompted widespread redundancies and office closures.

Tracking Relief with Real-time Reporting

BitGive’s RSK-powered donation tracking platform GiveTrack will provide all donors access to evidence-based reporting, a common blockchain use-case advanced by crypto proponents. Known for its transparency, accountability and cryptographic security, GiveTrack has previously been used to raise funds for hurricane relief in the Bahamas and animal welfare in Venezuela. Unlike traditional donation platforms, it promises fast settlement and low to no fees.

“COVID-19 has affected our global community, and it will take all of us coming together and supporting each other to get through this,” said Connie Gallippi, Founder and Executive Director of BitGive. “We are grateful to our partner nonprofits for helping us provide a fully transparent avenue for collective impact, directly assisting those in need on the front lines.”

The blockchain framework utilized by BitGive was developed by RSK, a well-known smart contract platform secured by the Bitcoin network. Diego Gutiérrez Zaldivar, CEO of RSK’s parent company IOV Labs, heralded the new collective: “BitGive harnesses the distributed power of blockchain to connect donors with impactful causes and move funds globally with maximum transparency, security, and efficiency. We’re honored to contribute to their COVID-19 Relief Fund and support the efforts of these wonderful organizations.”

Blockchain at Center of Relief Efforts

Blockchain technology has been harnessed extensively during the current crisis, not just as a means of raising much-needed funds but also bolstering the supply chain. Last month, the Italian Red Cross created an advanced medical post using funds raised via a crypto fundraiser. The charity arm of Binance, meanwhile, launched a fundraising project named Crypto Against COVID, pledging $1 million to support relief efforts throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

A recent letter from eleven members of Congress also suggests that blockchain technology might be used to help provide stimulus checks to out-of-work Americans, payment of which is provisioned in the new Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Tens of millions of jobless have yet to receive their payments, with blockchain touted as a means of facilitating the Act’s benefits.