Within three weeks of the trust’s inception, Charity: water, a New York-based non-profit, received over $1 million in BTC to its Bitcoin Water Trust donations.
During the 2021 Bitcoin conference in Miami, the Bitcoin Water Trust was announced. It is a cryptocurrency fund that will receive and hold bitcoin donations for charity: water until January 1, 2025.
After January 1, 2025, the trust will utilize its best commercially reasonable efforts to retain bitcoin as bitcoin before converting it to fiat money. The funds will be utilized to support clean water projects.
Charity: water will accept and HODL bitcoin donations using Gemini’s crypto wallet. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders, have promised to personally match the first 50 bitcoin contributed to The Bitcoin Water Trust, a contribution that may provide clean water to around 50,000 people worldwide presently, and hopefully many more in the future.
The organization is aiming to capitalize on the potential gains Bitcoin might achieve in the future years. According to a blog post published on June 14 by the U.S.-based crypto exchange Gemini:
This new charity model — the HODL MODL — creates a new paradigm for charitable giving. It brings the HODL ethos of Bitcoin to charitable giving, and means your bitcoin donation today could make an even bigger impact tomorrow.
Gemini’s founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have also agreed to match the first 50 Bitcoin donated to the Bitcoin Water Trust.
Charity: water was founded in 2006 with the goal of launching community-owned water projects that give clean water and sanitation to developing countries. In 2014, the group began taking Bitcoin donations.
While they began accepting bitcoin donations in 2014, charity: water historically sold the asset to immediately fund the construction of new projects. Through their Bitcoin Water Trust initiative, however, they plan to hold onto the asset as an investment, with the hopes of building even more projects and helping more people as bitcoin appreciates.
Scott Harrison, CEO of charity: water stated that
We’ve been encouraged by the overwhelming support we have seen already for the Bitcoin Trust Initiative. By establishing this trust, we aim to harness the transformational power of this generational digital technology to make a lasting social impact, and in the process to provide a potential model for other charities who are working to do the same.
Tony Hawk, a renowned skateboarder who has supported charity: water for over a decade, is one of the fund’s most generous donors. “I am thrilled to support the Bitcoin Water Trust, and I believe Bitcoin has significant charity potential,” he stated.
Following Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s donation of billions of SHIB tokens a few months back, the charity has been a high priority in the crypto community in recent months.
After burning the remaining 90% of his SHIB holdings to deter other cryptocurrency developers from transferring significant amounts of their token supply to his wallets for promotion, Buterin donated one-tenth of his SHIB holdings to charity. The India Covid Relief Fund was one of Buterin’s biggest dog-token beneficiaries, getting more than $1 billion in SHIB.
According to the charity’s website, a total of 32.598 BTC has been donated so far, which equates to more than $1.3 million at current prices.
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