Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has now made at least two major contributions to help victims of last week’s devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake between Turkey and Syria occurred on February 6. The death toll has now risen to 33,000, making it one of the world’s worst earthquakes in decades. For the past week, Vitalik Buterin has been one of many actively donating Ether to support disaster relief efforts in Turkey. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, his most recent donation was 50 ETH (about $77,000) to Anka Relief on Feb. 12. Anka thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his generosity, saying that donations have flowed in cryptocurrency since day one.
“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.
Vitalik Buterin Amongst List of Donors to Earthquake Victims
Anka provided a list of crypto wallets available for donations. Web3 Rescue Support has also spearheaded Ukraine’s DAO project to raise cryptocurrency donations to support efforts in the beleaguered country. The latest donation adds another 99 ETH that Vitalik Buterin sent in support of earthquake victims.
On February 11, the vitalik.eth address sent about $150,000 worth of ETH to Ahbap, a non-governmental and non-profit organization dedicated to relief efforts in Turkey. Ahbap also offered multiple crypto addresses for donations in different coins it can accept. To date, it claims to have received $4.3 million in cryptocurrency donations, with stablecoins being the most popular tokens. At the time of writing, the Ahbap wallet contained 409 ETH worth $622,000, according to Etherscan.
Late last week, the Financial Times of London reported that cryptocurrency donations were pouring in from around the world. Businesses have sent over $10 million in cryptocurrency, with Binance alone donating $5 million to support relief efforts in Turkey. Binance also announced an airdrop of $100 in BNB for people in the hardest-hit areas last week.