Among the world’s greatest cryptocurrency exchanges and Web3 firms have pledged tens of millions of {dollars} to help victims of the lethal hearth on the Wang Fuk Court docket condominium complicated in Hong Kong’s Tai Po District, highlighting the sector’s rising position in real-world reduction efforts.
Three centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs) have publicly pledged to donate $24.78 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($3.19 million) to assist the victims of the devastating hearth, which claimed the lives of not less than 128 residents.
The donations included $1.5 million from Bitget alternate, $1.28 million from Binance, and about $256,000 from KuCoin alternate.
Bitget contributed the most important share, aiming to help reconstruction and restoration within the affected neighborhood, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen mentioned Friday on X, including that the alternate “stands with Hong Kong, wishing affected residents a swift restoration and rebuilding of their houses.”
The 2-day hearth started on Wednesday on the Wang Fuk Court docket complicated and unfold to seven high-rise buildings earlier than being extinguished on Friday, in what the media have described as Hong Kong’s deadliest hearth in 80 years.
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Hong Kong-based Web3 mental property firm Animoca Manufacturers has additionally began a token-based fundraiser, aiming to gather funds from the crypto neighborhood through an Ethereum Digital Machine (EVM) and a Solana (SOL) pockets deal with.
The fundraiser is gathering donations till Dec. 2. The corporate pledged to transform 100% of the proceeds to Hong Kong {dollars} by Dec. 3, to help the reduction efforts of the Hong Kong Purple Cross. For transparency, Animoca will publish a donation receipt exhibiting the ultimate quantity collected and donated, the corporate mentioned in a Thursday announcement.
Animoca’s EVM-compatible pockets had collected $171,000 whereas its Solana pockets collected $1,500 in cryptocurrency donations on the time of writing, based on cryptocurrency intelligence platform Nansen.
Tron Community founder Justin Solar additionally pledged an undisclosed quantity to the fireplace victims.
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Crypto donations emerge as catastrophe lifeline
Cryptocurrency-based donations have emerged as a big lifeline for disaster-stricken areas and underdeveloped economies missing banking infrastructure.
In 2024, crypto donations surpassed $1 billion, pushed by large-scale transfers to the victims of the earthquake in Thailand and Myanmar.
Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao alone donated practically $600,000 to the catastrophe reduction fund in April 2024, following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Thailand and Myanmar on March 28.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has additionally been identified for his crypto donations. In October 2024, Buterin donated over $180,000 in Ether (ETH) to the biotech charity Kanro.
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