By
Temitope Olatunji
April 18th, 2024
Fidelity’s charity arm, Fidelity Charitable, has received more than $100 million in cryptocurrency donations since 2015. But according to the company, this year is not the best one for crypto donations.
Fidelity Charitable has accepted cryptocurrency donations since 2015. As the company revealed late last month, in total, it has received more than $106 million in cryptocurrencies, mainly in Bitcoin.
The overall number of crypto donations has dropped year by year, the annual report, which was published last month, discloses. The largest amount of donations Fidelity‘s charity arm received during 2017, when Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies experienced their all time high’s in terms of price against the dollar.
In total, the company received around $69 million in crypto assets in 2017. This donation pace, however, dropped during 2018, when the crypto markets experienced a slow decline in prices. In 2018, Fidelity received around $30 million in crypto donations.
“We see cryptocurrency donations rise along with increases in the value of cryptocurrencies in the marketplace,” noted a representative from Fidelity Charitable.
This kind of the tendency would be considered as normal, because when the crypto prices are rising, the holders of those assets tend to spend their holdings more than compared to times when the asset price is falling. The company thinks this is related to the diminishing value of tax deductions that the donators would be able to claim. It was revealed by the marketing head at Fidelity Charitable, Amy Pirozzolo.
She says that those investors who donate their proceeds don’t have to pay capital gains on them and can write these donations off against their income tax.
According to Pirozzolo, Fidelity even suggests their clients to “give their most depreciated assets first… because it provides the best tax advantages for the donor and charity”.
And based on this, when thinking about new assets to add, the company often chooses the top performing cryptocurrencies. That way, Fidelity Charitable is always “keeping their hand on the pulse” of the crypto markets.
“One thing we’re committed to is helping donors choose the most tax efficient asset to give to charity,” says Pirozzolo.
However, while Bitcoin and Ethereum are the main crypto assets that Fidelity Charitable receive from donors, they also have communicated on Twitter back in May, that they would also accept donations in XRP in addition to BCH and LTC.
“The majority of our contributions to date have been bitcoin, however we have also seen growing numbers of donations in ethereum,” said a representative from Fidelity Charitable.
While this year, the crypto markets have experienced both upwards and downwards movements, the company hasn’t received much attention from crypto donors. In fact, the crypto donations have fallen in the recent months, according to Pirozzolo, but she believes that the most charitable time of the year is the second half.