According to a blog post published by the founder of the Free Software Foundation, the organization saw a Bitcoin donation lose 14 percent of its value before they could convert it to fiat.
The donation had been received in January of 2018 from the Pineapple Fund and was to empower the free software activists and developers around the globe.
The bear market had an effect on the Bitcoin donation
However, the downturn of the crypto market last year saw the $1 million Bitcoin donation shrink to $860,000 by the time it was converted to U.S dollars.
In the post, Richard M. Stallman who is the founder of
the foundation noted:
“The
donation from the Pineapple Fund arrived in the form of Bitcoin and had gone
down to around $860,000 by the time we could convert it all to dollars.”
According to Stallman, the foundation had received two
donations of $1 million each. One was from the Pineapple Fund and the other
from Handshake an IT development firm.
He adds that the donation from Handshake would be used
for specific software projects. Some amount will be set aside to improve
Replicant, the free Android fork. However, the amount will not be enough to
fund the foundation’s general operations.
The Free Software Foundation maintains and also funds
the GNU C Compiler (GCC) which is among the most essential open source packages
in the world.
Both donations will help the foundation run its
operations smoothly also enable them to add to their staff. It will also help
the organization to tackle some projects that they have needed to do but
haven’t managed to.
“Because
of the success of Respects Your Freedom, we have a long backlog of products to
evaluate. Expanding the team will increase our ability to help people purchase
hardware that runs entirely on free software.”
Moving forward the foundation is planning to develop a
free JavaScript code that will help improve the functionality of certain
websites.
What can the FSF do the next time they receive a
Bitcoin donation to avoid losing money? Share your thoughts in the comment
section below.
