On June 27, 2018, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced his new cryptocurrency charity fund, GiveCrypto. Armstrong established the philanthropic venture to financially empower people with direct cryptocurrency distributions. Armstrong and partner Rose Broome, previously co-founder and CEO of HandUp.org[1], have already raised[2] $1 million from prominent cryptocurrency community members. They plan to raise $10 million by the end of 2018 and $1 billion over a two-year time frame.
Purpose
The nonprofit’s mission is to give 100 percent of its cryptocurrency contributions to impoverished people, an altruistic goal that simultaneously drives cryptocurrency’s real-world utility.
GiveCrypto recognizes that there are roughly two billion people who have smartphones but who lack access to basic financial services. By directly distributing cryptocurrency to these people, the fund hopes to enable these basic financial services by allowing recipients to:
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Exchange cryptocurrency for their local currency.
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Buy goods and services using cryptocurrency.
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Hold cryptocurrency long term to (hopefully) increase their wealth.
Why Cryptocurrency?
“Given the enormous wealth creation from cryptocurrency, and the future potential upside, I believe there is a rare opportunity to create a large non-profit fund,” Armstrong explains on the GiveCrypto website.
With thousands of newly-minted members of the crypto rich, GiveCrypto sees this new, abundant wealth as ripe with fundraising opportunity.
Indeed, the fund has already raised capital from some of the industry’s most successful. Donors include Armstrong himself, Chris Larsen, Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox, bitcoin miner Bitmain, BitcoinCash’s Roger Ver, Coinbase founder Fred Ehrsam and a16z crypto[3] General Partner Kathryn Haun, among others.
Cryptocurrency’s underlying utility as a low-fee remittance option also makes it easy to transfer funds across borders. What’s more, the charitable fund can deposit contributions directly into its beneficiary’s mobile and web wallets. This is especially
