As the year is drawing to a close, cryptocurrency donations to charities are still pouring in, with giving continuing well into the holiday season.
On Crypto Giving Tuesday, a campaign initiated by The Giving Block, a cryptocurrency donation and fundraising platform for NGOs and individuals, there was a 583% increase in digital asset donations in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the company.
This year’s Crypto Giving Tuesday 2021 saw the firm’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., handling a total of $2.4 million in contributions with an average donation amount of $12,600, up 20% over the previous year.
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Notably, Ethereum (ETH) overtook Bitcoin for the first-place spot in total donation volume. The digital asset remained on top of the leaderboard, with more than $1.2M worth of ETH donated in total compared to $885 million Bitcoin.
Other firms notice an increase in crypto donations
The firm had anticipated more contributions this year with around ten times as many NGOs predicted to participate than in 2020. However, with the current global pandemic and several cryptocurrencies having lately had a modest setback, it was prepared to face anything.
In the end, The Giving Block was really pleased with the results; co-founder of The Giving Block, Pat Duffy, stated:
“That day has inspired hundreds of conversations with high-net-worth donors, companies, and projects that want to make gifts.”
He added:
“I think people who are often young and idealistic are being given transformative capital for the first time.”
The number of participating nonprofits was 1,017, an increase of 839% from Crypto Giving Tuesday 2020.
Crypto owners are charitably inclined
According to research conducted by Fidelity Charitable, 45% of cryptocurrency owners donated $1,000 or more to charity in 2020, compared to 33% of all investors.
However, despite the fact that crypto owners are disproportionately charitable, the tax-savvy technique of giving digital assets to charity is not commonly known.
As many as 55% of cryptocurrency investors are unaware that crypto-assets may be donated to charity in order to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of the asset.
