Donations

US crypto firms spent more on lobbying in 2023 than before FTX collapse: Report

Government transparency group Open Secrets reported U.S. crypto firms spent roughly $19 million on lobbying from January to September 2023.

Companies connected to the crypto and blockchain industry in the United States reportedly spent roughly $3 million more on lobbying in the first three quarters of 2023 than over the same period in 2022.

According to a Dec. 5 Reuters report citing data from U.S. government transparency group Open Secrets, crypto firms spent roughly $19 million on lobbying from January to September 2023, roughly 19% more than they did over the same period in 2022. Coinbase reportedly led the spending on lobbying at more than $2 million, followed by Crypto.com, Blockchain Association and Binance.

Before its collapse in November 2022, FTX had been one of the biggest spenders in the crypto space on donations to U.S. lawmakers’ campaigns and marketing efforts. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty of seven felony charges related to fraud at the exchange, used customer deposits to donate millions to political campaigns.

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Crypto donations amplify speed and global reach during crisis

Cryptocurrencies are proving useful in facilitating fast and unencumbered donations during crises, as recently seen during earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria.

Since devastating earthquakes hit parts of Turkey and Syria in February, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that around $5.9 million of crypto donations have been made to support relief efforts in the region.

The Turkish Ministry of Interior’s Earthquake Humanitarian Aid campaign, the Turkish Red Crescent, Save the Children and Project Hope have all received cryptocurrency-based donations. In addition, several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Bitfinex, OKX and KuCoin, donated more than $9 million to support victims in the area.

Cointelegraph reached out to Chainalysis to unpack the methodology used to monitor crypto-based donations supporting disaster relief efforts in Turkey and Syria.

Chainalysis director of research Kim Grauer said the firm uses a combination of human intelligence, gathered by its experts, and proprietary heuristics to identify and monitor flows to cryptocurrency services. This includes organizations accepting donations and scams that have sought to divert donations from unwitting supporters.

Grauer believes that the speed of transactions and the global nature of cryptocurrency transactions are proving to be important means of providing quick monetary support during times of crisis:

“Cryptocurrency is cross-border, instantaneous, and liquid, making it an ideal technology for raising funds and getting them to where they are needed most quickly.”

Grauer also highlights the ability to accurately monitor blockchain data as another strong argument for the utility of cryptocurrencies in facilitating donations and support after disasters and major emergencies:

“The transparency of blockchains is a unique benefit to cryptocurrency, providing opportunities to aid organizations to track donations and for law enforcement agencies to identify and trace illegitimate schemes attempting to capitalize in times of crisis.”

Antonia Roupell, Web3 operations lead at Save the Children, told Cointelegraph that the organization first accepted Bitcoin (BTC) as a donation method in response to Typhoon Haiyan, which ravaged the Philippines in 2013. From 2020 onwards, the charity has raised $7.4 million in cryptocurrency donations.

Related: Ukraine netted $70M in crypto donations since start of Russia conflict

This has continued during the organization’s earthquake relief work in Turkey and Syria. Roupell highlights many benefits of crypto-based donations compared with fiat-based donations.

“The vast majority of our crypto donors are first-time donors to Save the Children so crypto has enabled us to access a new and growing supporter base.”

Blockchain functionality also powers recurring giving, according to Roupell. In 2021, Save the Children received a number of Ethereum donations from nonfungible token (NFT) sales, some of which coded future donations through the smart contract functionality of specific NFTs.

Roupell also highlights tax benefits in the United States for donating cryptocurrency to charity, which has led to an increase in donations at the end of the financial year. She also notes that crypto donations are, on average, significantly higher than fiat ones.

While highlighting positives, Roupell said a downside was the anonymity of most cryptocurrency donors, which rules out the ability to thank benefactors for their contributions.

Roupell believes there is great value in blockchain-based solutions to facilitate and support aid efforts around the world, and that humanitarian organizations will have an increasingly key role to play in integrating and scaling access at grassroots levels:

“Cryptocurrency is a great donation vehicle, but the underlying technology, peer-to-peer electronic cash, is truly revolutionary for economic inclusion.”

The charity supports a variety of cryptocurrencies accepted by the crypto donation platform, The Giving Block. Roupell said the organization does “not endorse, promote or pass judgment” on any specific tokens. It also accepts global fiat currencies and stocks, with a priority to raise urgent funds to support global humanitarian responses.

Ukraine-based blockchain firm reports company ‘stronger’ one year into war

Russian military forces invaded areas of Ukraine in February 2022, and workers at businesses including Everstake have faced life in shelters and the constant threat of shelling.

According to CEO Sergey Vasylchuk, staking provider Everstake is continuing to move forward despite the continuing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Exactly one year ago today — Feb. 24, 2022 — Russian military forces invaded many areas of Ukraine in what has become one of the largest conflicts in modern Europe since World War II. In the last 12 months, more than 8,000 civilians have died, many Ukrainian cities have been shelled — with at least one almost leveled — and the country continues to be at risk of missile attacks and ground invasions.

Vasylchuk said that prior to Feb. 24, 2022, he had been making preparations to mitigate the risk to Everstake and its employees, but there were still months when many people based in Ukraine were not able to work for various reasons. The Everstake CEO said he felt responsible for the livelihood of around 300 people — roughly 100 workers and their families.

“This […] forced me — I’m the management — to move forward,” said Vasylchuk. “We act mostly instantly. […] We had a lot of help from partners, from other nations, from friends.”

Everstake helped launch the crypto donation platform Aid for Ukraine in March 2022, together with Ukrainian government officials, Kuna and crypto exchange FTX. The website reported more than $60 million in crypto and fiat contributions, going toward initiatives including military equipment, medical gear and humanitarian projects.

“Essentially, [these donations were] a small drop into the budget of what we currently need, but at least it was something,” said Vasylchuk. “Bottom line: Everstake became much stronger.”

According to the CEO, many of Everstake’s employees have continued to work from emergency shelters at various points throughout the last 12 months, facing noise from nearby explosions, loss of electrical power and adjusting to the new “normal”:

“Right now, I can’t imagine what would scare us, what things could challenge us, to impress us — like ‘this is a disaster.’ We definitely could be ready for anything right now.”

Amid attacks from Russian military forces and with a workforce spread across multiple countries, Everstake employees also faced online rumors and conspiracy theories — possibly promulgated by Russia’s propaganda machine — that its platform was used for politically motivated money laundering. Among the theories pushed on social media was one suggesting that Aid for Ukraine’s funds had been funneled to the United States Democratic Party due to the site’s association with FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations.

Related: Ukrainian pharmacies enable crypto payments via Binance Pay

Though Vasylchuk described the algorithms leading to the online attacks as “very professional,” he added that he was still shocked that some people in the U.S. were duped into spreading the rumors. North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn mentioned the conspiracy theory to his thousands of Twitter followers, and some news outlets picked up on the story.

The Everstake CEO compared the “unlivable” conditions for many businesses in Ukraine to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions in the United States, citing the agency’s recent crackdown on Kraken’s staking program. Though many parts of Ukraine are still under Russian military occupation, U.S. President Joe Biden secretly traveled to Kyiv on Feb. 20 to visit Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Kansas state lawmakers look to cap crypto political donations at $100

Crypto campaign contributions less than $100 would be acceptable under the bill, provided the receiver immediately converts the funds to USD and does not hodl them.

Lawmakers in the Kansas House of Representatives have introduced a bill proposing to amend the legislature’s rules on political campaign donations.

According to the bill, no person would be allowed to make or accept crypto contributions of more than $100 for any political candidate in the state’s primary or general election. For donations under $100, the receiver would need to “immediately convert” the crypto to U.S. dollars, not use the crypto for expenditures, and not HODL the funds.

The proposed bill included provisions that seemed to be aimed at mitigating foreign contributions to elections in Kansas, by requiring personal information from those sending crypto — including “that they are not a foreign national”. Crypto campaign contributors would also have to send the funds through a U.S.-based exchange with certain Know Your Customer requirements.

The $100 cap would be based on the “fair market value” of the crypto at the time the contribution was received. Kansas lawmakers first introduced the bill to the House on Jan. 25, later referring the legislation to the Committee on Elections.

Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission said in 2017 that cryptocurrency contributions were “too secretive”, specifically referring to Bitcoin (BTC). The state of California imposed a ban on political campaign donations in 2018, but changed course in July — whilalso capping contributions at $100.

Related: FTX seeks to claw back political donations by the end of February

Though not a major election year in the United States, crypto continues to be an issue for lawmakers at the federal and state levels. In April, Ireland’s government issued a ban on crypto political donations, citing concerns about foreign interference in the country’s elections.

Charity tied to former FTX exec made $150M from insider deal on FTT tokens: Report

The former FTX chief of staff reportedly “donated” FTT tokens he had obtained at a price of $0.05, later selling them after public trading opened for $1.

Polaris Ventures, a charity created by former FTX and Alameda chief of staff Ruairi Donnelly, reportedly wants to access roughly $150 million earned from sales of employee tokens frothe bankrupt exchange.

According to a Feb. 14 Wall Street Journal report, Donnelly received roughly $562,000 in salary during his time at FTX, which was converted into FTX Token (FTT) at a rate not available to the public — $0.05. The former executive reportedly “donated” the tokens to Polaris Ventures, selling them at a price of $1 after public trading opened in 2019 and 2020 and making millions.

FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, at which time when many wallets and funds tied to the exchange were seized by authorities or otherwise frozen for legal proceedings. Donnelly reportedly seeks to cash out the $150 million amid public scrutiny of FTX and Alameda and their former CEOs.

Donnelly’s legal team reportedly said the charity’s FTT tokens “were not FTX’s funds” and seemingly not subject to claims from other parties. Debtors for the exchange said on Dec. 19 they would “make arrangements for the return” of funds donated to charities or political campaigns and suggested legal action to obtain payments with interest should any group refuse.

Related: Who has returned donations or contributions from FTX amid the firm’s reputational risks?

Amid FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, some regulators have announced investigations into charitable organizations. The Charity Commission for England and Wales said in January that it had launched an inquiry into Effective Ventures due to FTX being a “significant funder” of the group.

Update (Feb. 15 at 3:01 AM): This article was updated to reflect changes to the Wall Street Journal article regarding the use of the word ‘insider’. Ruairi Donnelly reportedly made profits from obtaining FTT tokens at a lower price and selling them for a higher one.

Vitalik Buterin donates $227K to help earthquake victims in Turkey

The Ethereum co-founder has sent around $227,000 in ETH to two Turkish earthquake relief organizations.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has now made at least two substantial contributions to help the victims of last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Feb. 6. Its death toll has now risen to 33,000 — one of the world’s worst in decades.

Over the week, the Ethereum co-founder has been one of many actively donating Ether (ETH) to support relief efforts in Turkey. His latest donation was on Feb. 12 for 50 ETH, or approximately $77,000, sent to Anka Relief, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.

Anka thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his largesse and said that crypto donations had been flowing since the first day.

“Since day 1 of the disaster, we witnessed donations piling in the wallets of a handful of major NGOs. Great that they have attracted and will be attracting more funds,” said the organization.

Anka provided a list of crypto wallets than can be used for donations. The Web3 relief support organization has also spearheaded the Ukraine DAO project to raise crypto donations to support efforts in the besieged country.

The latest donation adds to another 99 ETH that Vitalik sent in support of earthquake victims. On Feb. 11 the vitalik.eth address sent around $150,000 worth of ETH to Ahbap, a nongovernmental and nonprofit organization dedicated to relief efforts in Turkey.

Ahbap has also provided several crypto addresses for various tokens it can accept as donations.

To date, it claims to have received $4.3 million in crypto donations, with stablecoins being the most popular tokens sent. According to Etherscan, the Ahbap wallet contains 409 ETH, worth $622,000 at the time of writing.

On Feb. 10, London’s Financial Times reported that crypto donations had been pouring in from across the globe. More than $10 million in crypto had been sent by companies, with Binance alone donating $5 million in support of Turkish relief efforts.

Binance also announced $100 in BNB (BNB) airdrops to those in the hardest-hit areas last week.

Related: The Web3 community responds to Turkish–Syrian earthquake tragedy

On Feb. 7, just a day after the devastating quake, Cointelegraph reported how the Web3 community was coming together to arrange crypto donations for NGOs and support.

It is not the first time crypto has been used for earthquake relief donations. In 2015, Bitcoin donations were sent to relief organizations following a massive quake in Nepal.

Binance to support users in Turkey’s earthquake region with $100 airdrops in BNB tokens

According to Binance CEO ‘CZ’, Binance is working on more efforts to help

The devastating earthquake that hit Turkey on Feb 6 has left a trail of destruction in its wake, affecting numerous communities and individuals.

In response to the tragedy, cryptocurrency exchangeBinance has announced that it will airdrop $100 USD worth of BNB tokens to all Binance users residing in regions hardest hit by the earthquake. The process of identifying eligible users will involve checking Proof of Address (POA) submissions made before February 6th in ten cities affected by the earthquake, including Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, and Osmaniye.

Although the POA method may not be 100% accurate, Binance said itconsiders it to be the best option available to locate users affected by the earthquake. The estimated total value of the donations is around $5 million USD (94,000,000 TRY). Binance Charity has also set up a public donation address, encouraging individuals to donate to the Emergency Earthquake Appeal using various cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, BNB, BUSD, and XRP.

Following natural disasters, individuals frequently encounter challenges accessing traditional banking services especially when they need it the most for essential needs such as medical supplies and food. To combat this problem, the use of cryptocurrency transfers has become increasingly popular for delivering financial aid to disaster victims, since transfers are speedy, cost-effective, transparent, and unrestricted, making them well-suited for providing aid in emergency circumstances.

Cryptocurrency has increasingly become a solution for delivering aid in the aftermath of disasters. For example, in relation to the war in Ukraine, cryptocurrency has been used to provide aid to those affected by the war. Aid organizations have utilized crypto to deliver financial assistance and supplies to those who are unable to access traditional banking services due to the conflict.

Related: Binance to temporarily suspend bank transfers in US dollars beginning Feb. 8

In the aftermath of Turkey’s earthquake, organizations within the crypto ecosystem are stepping up to support the unfortunate victims. On Feb 6, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced that it had committed 1 million Turkish Lira to aid relief efforts to help people affected by the earthquake.


Sam Bankman-Fried’s charitable donations sought by FTX: Report

FTX’s new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars donated by Future Fund and SBF.

FTX’s new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars in donations made by the crypto exchange and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

At the end of September, FTX’s charity arm, Future Fund, had committed more than $160 million to over 110 nonprofit organizations, including biotech startups and university researchers developing Covid-19 vaccines and working on pandemic studies, as well as nonprofit organizations in India, China and Brazil.

As per the report, Future Fund committed $3.6 million to AVECRIS, a company working on a genetic vaccine platform, and another $5 million were donated to Atlas Fellowship for scholarships and high-school summer programs in San Francisco.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried said that charitable donations were not made from customer deposits, but from trading profits.

The charity arm was announced in February 2022 planning to deploy over $100 million in its first year and reach up to $1 billion in donations.

Despite the decline in crypto prices, donations were kept. On Sep. 23, Future Fund’s Twitter profile announced “a substantial fraction” of capital to be deployed on researches and initiatives working on risk management for artificial general intelligence (AGI), with prizes up to $1.5 million, as well as thousands of dollars in rewards for those who “best critiques of our views” about the future of artificial intelligence. 

Related: Companies and investors may need to return billions in funds paid by FTX

FTX’s donations to political parties and candidates are also under investigation by United States prosecutors. Bankman-Fried was the second-largest “CEO contributor” to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, with $5.2 million in donations. 

Clawback provisions could force businesses and investors to return billions of dollars paid in the months prior to the crypto exchange’s collapse, Cointelegraph reported. FTX’s new management says that “a number of recipients of contributions or other payments” have approached the company to return the funds.

On Jan. 4, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges he faces relating to the collapse of the crypto exchange, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and campaign finance violations. Since Dec. 22, he has been under house arrest at his parents’ home in California.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s charitable donations sought by FTX: Report

FTX’s new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars donated by Future Fund and SBF.

FTX’s new management is seeking to recover millions of dollars in donations made by the crypto exchange and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 7.

FTX’s charity arm, Future Fund, by the end of September had committed more than $160 million to over 110 nonprofit organizations, including biotech startups and university researchers developing COVID-19 vaccines and working on pandemic studies, as well as nonprofit organizations in India, China and Brazil.

According to the report, Future Fund committed $3.6 million to AVECRIS, a company working on a genetic vaccine platform, and another $5 million to Atlas Fellowship for scholarships and high school summer programs in San Francisco.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried said that charitable donations were not made from customer deposits, but from trading profits.

The charity arm was announced in February, with plans to donate over $100 million in its first year and eventually up to $1 billion.

Despite the decline in crypto prices, the donations were upheld. On Sept. 23, Future Fund’s Twitter profile announced “a substantial fraction” of capital to be deployed on research and initiatives working on risk management for artificial general intelligence (AGI), with prizes up to $1.5 million, as well as thousands of dollars in rewards for those who “best critiques of our views” about the future of artificial intelligence. 

Related: Companies and investors may need to return billions in funds paid by FTX

FTX’s donations to political parties and candidates are also under investigation by United States prosecutors. Bankman-Fried was the second-largest “CEO contributor” to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, giving it$5.2 million. 

Clawback provisions could force businesses and investors to return billions of dollars paid in the months prior to the crypto exchange’s collapse, Cointelegraph has reported. FTX’s new management says that “a number of recipients of contributions or other payments” have approached the company to return the funds.

On Jan. 4, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges he faces relating to the collapse of the crypto exchange, including wire fraud, securities fraud and campaign finance violations. Since Dec. 22, he has been under house arrest at his parents’ home in California.

US election agency approves use of NFTs as campaign fundraising incentive

According to the FEC, DataVault will receive “reasonable compensation” for each NFT issued to contributors as well as track all tokens issued for its own records.

The United States Federal Election Commission (FEC) has issued an advisory opinion stating DataVault Holdings may use nonfungible tokens for fundraising efforts.

In a Dec. 15 notice, the FEC said it was “permissible” for DataVault holdings to send nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, to political campaign contributors without violating rules on corporate contributions. According to the election agency, DataVault will receive “reasonable compensation” for each NFT issued to contributors, as well as track all tokens issued for its own records.

“The Commission concludes that DataVault’s proposals to provide political committees with NFTs on the same terms that it regularly offers its non-political clients would be a permissible extension of credit by DataVault in the ordinary course of business,” said FEC Chair Allen Dickerson. “Under the Act and Commission regulations, an incorporated commercial vendor may extend credit to political committees under terms substantially similar to those the vendor offers non-political debtors. DataVault is a ‘commercial vendor’ because its usual and normal business involves the provision of the same services that it proposes to provide to political committees.”

Speaking to Cointelegraph, DataVault CEO Nathaniel Bradley said: 

“We are very pleased by the unanimous approval by the FEC of our patented DataVault platform for use by political campaigns here in the US. In a broader view, we believe, Blockchain technology represents the future for elections that seek to be trusted and transparent in their outcomes in the future.”

In September, DataVault’s legal team proposed the firm be allowed to send NFTs as souvenirs — “in a manner akin to a campaign hat” — to individuals who contributed to political committees. The tokens would also give tokenholders the option to use them for promoting a campaign “strictly on a volunteer basis and without any compensation.” Any fees from issuing NFTs or transactions would be reported as a “fundraising expenditure,” according to DataVault.

The FEC issued a similar advisory opinion in 2019 on blockchain tokens, saying certain ones were “materially indistinguishable from traditional forms of campaign souvenirs.” In that case, congressional candidate Omar Reyes’ tokens had “no monetary value” and were used as an incentive to engage in volunteer activities for the campaign.

Related: FEC probe demanded after SBF ‘admitted’ making dark money donations

NFTs have sometimes been connected to political campaigns globally. In South Korea, the campaign behind Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung said in January it would issue NFTs showing images of the politician and his campaign pledges to those who made donations.