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Rachel Wolfson
Reporter
Rachel Wolfson
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Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton have left millions of people in devastation.
States across America including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee have all been impacted.
While recovery efforts are still underway, a number of Web3-focused organizations are allowing donors to give cryptocurrency to help communities affected by the recent hurricanes.
The Giving Block Creates A Hurricane Relief Fund
For example, crypto charity donation platform The Giving Block recently established the “Hurricanes Helene & Milton Emergency Response Fund.”
This fund was created to support charitable organizations with their relief efforts.
Pat Duffy, co-founder of The Giving Block, told Cryptonews that The Giving Block has partnered with numerous nonprofits to cover the primary needs of communities seeking relief.
“We are working with each of these organizations individually to ensure that donations go directly to providing essential services like medical care, food, shelter, and humanitarian aid for children, families, and animals affected by the devastation,” Duffy said.
The Giving Block is partnering with a number of well-known organizations like “Save The Children” and “Project Hope” to enable donors to make crypto donations and more.
“We’re empowering individuals to donate in multiple ways – crypto, stocks, donor-advised funds, credit cards – to maximize the impact of their contributions during this critical time,” he said.
Duffy further shared that Jared Isaacman – the CEO of The Giving Block’s parent company Shift4 – will be matching the next $500,000 in donations.
“Every single contribution, across all of these giving methods, is currently being matched dollar for dollar until we’ve reached our first $1,000,000 in support,” Duffy remarked.
Blockchain Groups Highlight Organizations Accepting Crypto Donations
The Blockchain Association – a Washington, DC nonprofit organization supporting digital assets – has created an online directory of different charities assisting in relief and recovery efforts for Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Organizations include “Catholic Charities,” “The Salvation Army” and “Americares.”
Curtis Kincaid, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications of The Blockchain Association, told Cryptonews that these charities are providing critical services such as medical care, food, and shelter.
“For those interested in donating crypto, the charities we outlined provide direct links to do so,” Kincaid said.
Crypto philanthropy platform Givepact also published a blog post this week to help raise awareness on how crypto donors can support relief efforts.
A number of local charities, like “Florida Wildlife Federation” and “BeLoved Asheville” are mentioned in this post.
Alicia Maule, co-founder and CEO of Givepact, told Cryptonews that Givepact enables donors to support local organizations helping those impacted by disasters like the recent hurricanes.
“Givepact exclusively accepts cryptocurrency donations,” Maule said. “We focus on mobilizing resources quickly for communities in need.”
Crypto Donations Are On The Rise
Maule added that crypto donors typically give 82 times more than cash donors.
“This makes these individuals a valuable source of support for nonprofits,” she said. “This also allows organizations to tap into a new generation of philanthropists and high-net-worth donors.”
The Giving Block’s Annual Industry Report on the State of Crypto Philanthropy notes that over $2 billion is estimated to have been donated using cryptocurrency as of January 2024.
Findings also show that 56% of leading U.S. charitable organizations now accept crypto donations.
According to Duffy, cryptocurrency has become one of the fastest growing donation methods in the U.S. for the better part of a decade.
He believes this is the case due to the growing population of crypto investors, along with the benefits associated with donating digital assets.
“Just like stocks, crypto is much better for taxes than giving cash,” Duffy said. “That’s because when Americans spend crypto anywhere else, or sell their crypto for cash, they owe the federal and state governments capital gains taxes. But not when they donate.”
It’s also worth noting that cryptocurrency is currently exempt from wash sale rules.
Jonathan Bander, managing partner and head of tax strategy at ExperityCPA, told Cryptonews that this means investors can sell cryptocurrency at a loss for tax purposes and repurchase the same asset immediately without waiting 30 days.
“This helps to maximize tax-loss harvesting strategies efficiently,” Bander said.
Yet while there are a number of benefits associated with crypto donations, Bander remarked that regulatory uncertainty, value volatility, limited charity acceptance and the need for education on the subject matter may create challenges.
