2021 is shaping up to be a generous year for cryptocurrency donations. On Wednesday, Coin Center, the leading cryptocurrency nonprofit in Washington, D.C., announced that it had raised millions in additional funding from high-profile names in the crypto industry.
Jerry Brito, Coin Center’s executive director, tweeted that his organization had received enough donations to claim the $1 million in matched contributions from Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest crypto fund manager.
Less than three weeks ago, Grayscale announced that it had donated $1 million to the advocacy group and pledged an additional $1 million in matched contributions. A few days later, digital currency exchange Kraken announced that it was pledging $100,000 to Coin Center.
Perhaps the most noteworthy news item came in a follow-up tweet when Brito confirmed that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donated $1 million to the advocacy group. “We were almost to our goal for the matching campaign when he put us over the top and then some,” he said.
Coin Center has received and incredibly generous gift of $1 million from @jack — we’re speechless.
We were almost to our goal for the matching campaign when he put us over the top and then some.
Your confidence in our work is incredibly humbling.
— Jerry Brito (@jerrybrito) February 10, 2021
Dorsey is also behind Square, whose mobile payments app lets users buy and sell Bitcoin. Square is also one of the largest corporate holders of BTC, with 4,709 units of the virtual currency on its books. That’s equivalent to nearly $210 million in today’s value.
Coin Center’s advocacy work is increasingly focused on advancing financial privacy and “sensible tax policy,” according to Neeraj Agrawal, the organization’s director of communications.
The crypto community is known for its generousity, especially in the wake of the 2017-18 bull market where millions of people around the world made a fortune investing in digital assets. Companies like The Giving Block are making it easier for organizations to accept digital currency donations.
The Giving Block recently published three job postings on its website, which reflects the growth of the crypto donations industry.
