India’s coronavirus relief package received a big donation from the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. The funds donated approximately calculated to $600,000 in ETH and MKR. The proof of his 100 ETH donation and 100MKR valuing approximately $228,648 and $380,000 respectively are shared via his Twitter account. 

Vitalik Buterin Responds to Call for Help India’s Covid Crisis by Donating Ethereum and MKR

Responding to an appeal by the Ethereum scaling platform, Vitalik Buterin donated Polygon founder Balaji Srinivasan Nailwal who called for donations towards helping India due to the Pandemic crisis. India is currently in crisis following a devastating Covid-19 surge with global partners pledging for support. A proof of Buterin donating his 100 ETH and 100 MKR is shared on his Twitter account. 

Thanks for organizing this @sandeepnailwal and thanks a lot for pointing this out @balajis!https://t.co/2PBOQKYuZqhttps://t.co/uOzQ15sZnL

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 24, 2021

Apart from the co-founder of Ethereum, many others donated a good number of Ethereum in response. Individuals including former Coinbase CTO and board partner at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, Balaji Srinivasan, donated 21.74 ETH calculating approximately $50,000 to the fund. 

The tweet from Balaji S. Srinivasan

reads;

“If you’ve been fortunate enough to do well this year, consider joining me and @VitalikButerin by donating at the addresses below.

But if all you have is Twitter, help spread the word. For every RT, I’ll donate another $50 to fight COVID in India, up to $100k. #cryptovscovid”

The fund aims to channel demand by acquiring vaccination cost, oxygen, and possibly the food requirements. In upholding transparency, Nailwal affirmed he would publish the spending publicly.

No far in 2020, the foundation reportedly donated 1,125 ETH to UNICEF. Also, elsewhere, in 2019, the foundation donated an unspecified amount to UNICEF’s bitcoin and ether pilot crypto fund.

India Stand on Crypto BAN

On one side, a developing nation, India is planning to ban cryptocurrencies, while the donation received through crypto-space is welcomed by the country. A recent statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi reads, “The government is on its knees following the pandemic.”

However, the donation by Buterin is in a personal capacity, the Ethereum Foundation has been involved actively in charities.