Crypto Firms Pledge Support for Turkey Earthquake Victims

In the wake of the devastating Turkey earthquake, several crypto firms have promised support for the Turkey victims. The earthquake, which affected ten cities, including Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Adana, and Osmaniye, has reportedly killed 7,700 people. Another 20,000 sustained various levels of injury, prompting the crypto community to roll out humanitarian aid.

Binance noted there is usually a loss of access to traditional banking after natural disasters. Cryptocurrencies provide an alternative way to access required funds for medical supplies, food and other essentials during this period.

What’s interesting is that the Turkey government banned crypto assets for payment in April 2021. However, that did not limit the mainstream adoption of digital assets. According to the 2022 Statista Global Consumer Survey, crypto ownership in Turkey increased from 25% to 40% in 2022.

Although regulators are not very receptive to digital assets, several Turkey-based blockchain and research firms have petitioned the authorities to enable crypto-based donations. The petition asks the government to create crypto asset wallets and share them through official channels. Ukraine acted similarly after Russia invaded its borders. At the time of writing, over 40 separate entities have signed the petition.

Crypto Firms that Pledged Support for Turkey Victims

Among the top crypto firms that pledged support for Turkey’s earthquake victims, we should mention Binance. Binance plans to airdrop BNB worth $100 to all Binance users in areas affected by the earthquake. The exchange expects to donate about $5 million (or 94,000,000 TRY). The firm also launched a public donation address through Binance Charity.

Asides from Binance, Bybit announced a donation of $100,000 to the post-disaster relief efforts. While Bitget plans to donate 1 million Turkish Lira, Avalanche Foundation donated $1 million in AVAX tokens. Also, Bitfinex, Keet, Synonym, and Tether plan to raise 5 million Turkish Lira. Lastly, Justin Sun pledged to donate $1 million from Huobi Global. Bybit CEO, Ben Zhou, said:

“We hope more people can become aware of Turkey’s needs and get involved.”

Meanwhile, there are reports that the earthquake may have extended to Syria. However, no aid is going toward Syria due to existing economic sanctions on the country. Whatever the case, cryptocurrency has once again proven itself handy following a rather disastrous event.