Podari.Life Foundation, an American sister charity of the Russia-based "Gift of Life" foundation, created a digital wallet on the Coinbase platform, which will allow it to accept donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, according to the organization’s press service.
Coinbase allows you to quickly and reliably convert bitcoins into US dollars, then donations can be directed to projects of any of the three sister charities: Podari.Life in the US, Gift of Life in the UK and "Gift of Life" in Russia. The activities of the platform are fully regulated by the relevant norms of US law, the report says.
The digital wallet accepts donations from any country quickly, with no amount limits and without extra commissions, that’s why a number of large global nonprofit organizations are already taking advantage of this opportunity, such as Greenpeace, Save the Children, United Way.
"We are the first Russian foundation ... that organized this way of collecting donations, because the idea of blockchain is close to us- for all the three sister charities, the principles of transparency and reducing commissions in transactions are extremely important," said Grigory Mazmanyants, CEO of the “Gift of Life”.
Webpage of the American foundation was used, since in Russia the collection of money using cryptocurrencies creates the risks of undesirable attention from the government bodies, and even website blocking, said the internet expert Anton Merkurov, who helped the fund to create a cryptowallet.
"The goal is simple - to get an actual instrument for collecting donations. Taking into account the possibilities of microtransactions with a low commission, this is very necessary in the field of charity," he said.
Law does not yet regulate the circulation of cryptocurrency in Russia, but the Bank of Russia has repeatedly stated that it does not consider the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment on the territory of the country. The Central Bank and the Prosecutor General's Office are working on blocking sites that allow trading in cryptocurrency.
Actresses Dina Korzun and Chulpan Khamatova established the “Gift of Life” charity foundation on November 26, 2006. Its main goals are to raise funds for the treatment and rehabilitation of children with oncological and hematological diseases, to help oncology and hematology clinics, where children and young adults are treated, to attract public attention to the problems of sick children, to promote the development of blood donations, and so on.
Its American sister organization Podari.Life was registered in 2015, collecting money for educational programs to improve the professional level of Russian doctors, as well as to adapt the latest developments in oncology in Russian clinics.