Several crypto firms, including Tether, OkX, Binance, Kucoin, and Bitfinex, have collectively pledged roughly $60 million in donations to help the victims of the devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey earlier this week.
This collective effort shows that the blockchain community is always ready to step up and offer support for humanitarian causes. That said, Avalanche Foundation has joined the fundraising efforts by donating AVAX tokens worth $1 million.
In a statement, Aytunc Yildizh, Executive Director of Avalanche Foundation, said that Turkey residents are as important as any other people to the Avalanche Foundation; therefore, he hopes the funds will help them recover faster from this calamity.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also released a statement. He wrote that the earthquakes which hit Turkey had negatively impacted several people. However, he hopes the exchange’s efforts will somehow relieve the victims.
Binance CEO Asks Crypto Players to Show Support to Turkey
Further, Zhao called on other industry players to once again join hands to offer support. The Binance boss announced that the exchange plans to airdrop 1885 TRY ($100) to every user in Turkey, totaling about $4.9 million.
Joining the growing list of firms and founders donating crypto to Turkey is Justin Sun, founder of Tron. He pledged to donate TRX tokens worth $1 million from the crypto exchange Huobi Global.
Early last year, the crypto community, including Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, came together to offer support to the Non-Governmental Organizations operating in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country.
More DAOs are Coming Up, but are They All Legit?
At that time, a Ukraine DAO was formed to help raise funds for the victims. That has been the case in the wake of Turkey’s tragedy. Several DAOs have cropped up since Monday, claiming to facilitate fundraising for the earthquake victims.
However, there have been concerns that some DAOs might be taking advantage of the fundraising frenzies to scam well-meaning donators every time a large-scale disaster occurs.
Therefore, donors are advised to vet these groups to ensure that funds actually reach the victims. Projects like The Giving Block and Endaoment have developed proper mechanisms to facilitate donations to humanitarian projects using crypto.
