The leading cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase has awarded a $150,000 grant to Hope for Haiti as part of a pilot program aimed at providing financial assistance to Haitians experiencing social and economic hardship.
In an announcement Tuesday, Hope for Haiti said Coinbase would make the $150,000 contribution to its pilot project with financial inclusion-driven startup Emerging Impact and the Celo Foundation. According to Celo, the project uses the Celo Dollar (cUSD) and Emerging Impact’s Umoja platform to provide cash assistance to mothers affected by some of the traumatic events in the Caribbean nation.
Haiti has been hit by four major earthquakes in the past 12 years, including Monday’s 5.3-magnitude earthquake, which reportedly killed two people and destroyed 200 homes. However, the island nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, also suffered significant damage from a magnitude 7 earthquake in 2010, which was followed by prolonged civil unrest related, in part, to the ongoing pandemic and the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moses in July.
At Least Two Killed In Haiti Quake, 200 Houses Destroyedhttps://t.co/4R5yzdmmrV pic.twitter.com/pgHDEOLIoy
— Channels Television (@channelstv) January 25, 2022
The charitable arm of Coinbase, Coinbase Giving, provided the funds to be used for the benefit of approximately 1,500 people from Haiti, those families with children enrolled in Hope for Haiti’s community nutrition program. Affected individuals will be able to use the funds to purchase goods and services at more than 30 participating merchants in Haiti, with the option for sellers to cash in the digital funds using the local MonCash money management service.
“This initiative with Hope for Haiti and Emerging Impact is particularly exciting for the way it uses blockchain-based technology to promote more efficient and effective giving, and we hope it will inspire ideas across sectors of the crypto economy and philanthropy.” “said the head of Coinbase Giving, Dominique Baillet.
Many individuals and charities have used cryptocurrencies as a means of getting money to those who need it most after a natural disaster or in a country experiencing political turmoil. After many people in the Philippines were displaced or injured after Typhoon Rai hit the region in December 2021, gaming group Yield Guild Games raised $1.4 million to help victims. Similarly, following the Texas winter storm in February 2021, some local disaster relief groups announced that they would accept cryptocurrency donations.
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