Top 3 Crypto Philanthropists

Up until not much time ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was considered to be the most generous crypto billionaire ever. This all changed when FTX came crashing down, and it was revealed that Sam’s philanthropist activities were financed mainly by user funds. The majority of the donations actually went to finance his own lavish lifestyle. The fact that Bankman-Fried was constantly talking about charity and in the end has lost the trust of the community, did not help public opinion on crypto. You can read our detailed article about the FTX collapse.

However, ignoring or questioning the donations of all crypto millionaires, just because of 1 person is unfair. There are several players who have been in the crypto industry for much longer and who have been actively donating money to righteous causes, even though the media did not put them in the spotlight for it. Today we will discover a list of top three crypto philanthropists. You probably already heard about them as successful businessmen, but did you know that these guys also serve higher goals than just making money on their projects? Let’s go!  

#1 Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin, known as the founder and the principal engineer of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain has an impressive net worth of more than $300 million, even after last year’s crypto winter. Despite the fact that Buterin’s net worth has taken a huge hit recently, going down from no less than $1.5 billion just a few years ago, he continues to regularly make generous donations to charity. 

He is not one of those philanthropists who focus on a single subject or use charity to push some kind of an agenda, but he rather always donates where money is best spent at the time being. For example, during and after the COVID pandemic, he donated more than $9 million in USDC to the University of Maryland to fund medical research that may help prevent future pandemics. He made several donations to support the people of Ukraine and also shared his $227,000 (about 150 ETH at the time of donation) to help the victims of earthquakes in Turkey in February 2023.  

#2 Charles Hoskinson

It looks like the Ethereum network is like a magnet for philanthropists, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who also assisted in development during the early period of the Ethereum blockchain is also known to be kind at heart. His organization, Input Output Global regularly makes donations to noble causes, mainly to children in need.

They have also made significant financial contributions to support the research and advancement of different blockchain and crypto ecosystems. But while this definitely helps young talents start their career, it does not necessarily constitute to philanthropy, as it can be argued that it is a for-profit cause. Like Buterin, Hoskinson has also provided financial support to the victims of the war in Ukraine, in the form of 500,000 ADA, or around $250,000 at the time of donation. Most of the money went to families and small children in need.

#3 Changpeng Zhao

The founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, Changpeng Zhao, or simply CZ has a net worth of around $4.5 billion. Despite many people believing differently, CZ actually grew up in Canada and is a Canadian citizen. CZ also leads an effort to donate to actual noble causes, mostly through his company, Binance. 

Binance donated $2.5 million for coronavirus research and no less than $10 million to Ukrainian refugees. Zhao has also repeatedly made some other similar-sized or smaller non-disclosed donations supporting various different causes in recent years. What’s more, in an interview in 2021, he stated that he intends to give away more than 90 percent of his fortune before his death, but there appears to be still a lot left to do to fulfill that pledge. However, such intentions are already a big push for the industry of crypto charity.   

Conclusion

Of course, these are only 3 people of the industry mentioned in this article, but many other crypto millionaires are also active philanthropists. According to reports, the amount of private donations made via crypto has been rising since 2021. 

Cryptocurrencies made private and anonymous donations a lot easier, for which reason there is also growing concern that some of the new non-profit organizations crypto is donated to, are involved in shady businesses. However, simply because there is a rotten apple in the basket, we should not label all the other apples as bad.

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