Why Is The Road To Mass Adoption Paved With DeFi Donations?

By Alex Siman – CEO of Subsocial

Cryptocurrencies are a global-reaching technology. Utilizing digital assets ensures that users can instantly send money to anyone in the world with little to no fees and without revealing their identity. These capabilities make crypto an easy candidate for sending donations.

Charitable Crypto Users

Popular charities, such as the American Red Cross, have long accepted crypto as a powerful method of donation. The entity began accepting crypto donations as early as 2015, utilizing BitPay to help facilitate crypto transfers. Elizabeth Ploshay, the team's nonprofit outreach coordinator, stated at the time:

"Bitcoin users are extremely passionate people who are looking to put their bitcoin BTC/USD towards good causes. I’m sure the community will be excited to have such an established charity to donate to."

2021 was a fairly charitable year for crypto enthusiasts as well. According to the Los Angeles Times, public charity Fidelity Charitable received over $274 million in crypto donations. That number was four times the amount received in 2017, which was $69 million. 

No Options for Those Who Want to Profit from Grief

And now we're seeing the situation in Ukraine.

This is precisely the type of situation where immediate and direct aid is needed. Waiting literally costs lives. While global donations are certainly possible without cryptocurrency, many of these organizations require a middleman. However, the middleman may take a cut of all donations or simply lie about where the money is going.

Action Fraud received 196 reports of bogus requests to raise funds for victims. Some fraudsters claim to be friends or even relatives of Wladimir Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv. Scammers use social media, sell T-shirts, and send emails.

In that case, crypto is an anonymous and hacker-proof tool because a chain only has a sender and a recipient. Moreover, such a tool allows for the avoidance of commissions for international transfers, ATMs, and the sharing of personal data.

Banks are not permitted to freeze funds or prohibit transactions. There is no need to visit any offline offices. Because the cyber threat to crypto is high, the level of protection is also high. Project teams are aware of the dangers.

Innovators Demonstrate the Possibility of Helping Online

According to a tweet from Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, government wallets received more than $100 million in crypto as of mid-March 2022. These funds have gone toward bulletproof jackets, lunches, helmets, medicine, and much more.

Industry leaders, prominent blockchain businesses, non-profit organizations, anonymous traders, and individuals have all contributed to the country's being under siege. Binance, Uniswap, Dr. Gavin Wood, Solana, Subsocial, Braiins, and others—the list to be continued.

If there was a middleman, the success of an initiative like the one we launched on Polkadot DOT/USD, which raised nearly $1.5 million for civilians and the army, would be jeopardized. The page we established was protected from closures that happen to centralized projects. Digital assets easily fixed technical issues we would have faced with fiat. The funds can be transferred directly to those in need without any delays or fees.

This is how cryptocurrency became a universal tool that anyone could access and use to assist those in need. 

Continuing on the Path to Mass Adoption

Now, the possibilities provided by Ukraine’s crypto-focused success are fantastic. We’re bound to see more users than ever before entering the cryptocurrency space. 

Crypto donations represent a large part of the adoption process—the simple act of making a transaction. Sometimes all it takes is one user and one wallet or page, such as Sub.ID, to receive and provide the support that people need.

It’s entirely possible that the Ukrainian donation process would cause companies to rethink their stance on crypto. We very well might see reputable charities and companies adopt cryptocurrency donations in the near future. In reality, there’s little downside to doing so.

Of course, it’s impossible to predict for sure what will cause mass adoption, but it appears that donations are well on their way to doing so.