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Two devastating earthquakes on February 6, 2023 claimed thousands of lives in both Turkey and Syria. Numerous digital asset exchanges and fundraising initiatives have raised over $12.5 million to help those affected. Major donors include Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, Tron founder Justin Sun, Turkish-American media personality Refik Anadol and The Avalanche Foundation.
As the cryptophilanthropic scene matures, willing donors are being warned to avoid scam campaigns circulating on social media.
Quick links for crypto donations
- BtcTurk: BTC, ETH, USDT, TRX
- AHBAP: ERC20, BEP20, AVAX (ahbap.org for non-crypto donations)
- Binance Charity: BNB, BUSD, ETH, XRP, BTC
- Paribu: ETH, BTC, WAVES, TRX, AVAX, DOT and more
- Battles: ETH, MATIC, BTC, SOL, TRX
Stock exchanges announce aid packages
Crypto exchanges that have pledged help include BtcTurk, Binance, Bitmex, Bybit, Bitfinex, Bitget, Gate.io and Huobi Global. Total pledged aid from these exchanges exceeded $8 million.
Kucoin, OKX, Crypto.com, Bitget and Gate.io each pledged 1 million Turkish Liras ($53,000), with the latter also launching an NFT donation campaign. Huobi has pledged another two million Turkish Liras in partnership with the Tron blockchain.
Bitfinex – in collaboration with Keet, Synonym and Tether – pledged five million Turkish liras ($265,000), while Bybit donated an additional $100,000.
Gate.io’s NFTs “Turkey Donor”.
BtcTurk has launched wallet addresses for those who want to donate to Turkish Presidency for Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), humanitarian organization AHBAP, Nef Foundation, Community Volunteer Foundation (TOG), Support Life, Basic Needs Association (TIDER), Turkish Red crescent or Association for Search and Rescue (AKUT). Donations are converted into Turkish lira and BtcTurk sends to organizations without commission to donors.
Paribu Turkey Exchange also distributed donation wallets to NeedsMap, Community Volunteer Foundation (TOG), UNICEF Turkey, Support To Life and Women’s Work Support Foundation. Bitci – another Turkish exchange – also distributed wallets for donations to TOG.
In addition, Binance announced that it would deliver $100 worth of BNB tokens to all users in the affected regions – which CEO Changpeng Zhao estimated amounted to $5 million in total aid. Binance Charity has also established an Earthquake Emergency Fund.
Relief campaigns launched by BtcTurk (left), Bitfinex (top right) and Binance (bottom right).
Turkish regulators grant temporary approval for cryptocurrency donation
The cryptocurrency collecting scene entered a new era after the full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, becoming a significant source of humanitarian aid. But Turkey’s crypto regulation remains tight, and an official government-backed crypto donation campaign similar to Ukraine’s was initially thought unlikely.
However, a day after the earthquake, Turkey’s financial intelligence unit MASAK gave an unprecedented green light to a week-long crypto-donation campaign launched by AHBAP – one of the country’s most respected humanitarian organizations.
The campaign was announced by Turkish rock star Haluk Levent – the founder of AHBAP – after 82% of his Twitter followers voted for his establishment of a crypto donation wallet in an online poll. Ethereum, BNB Chain and Avalanche wallets which was subsequently tweeted, raised nearly $500,000 in donations within an hour – and nearly $3 million by the end of the day.
A number of other unofficial donation campaigns advertised on social media have promised to distribute proceeds through humanitarian organizations. An Ethereum donation address published by Turkish-American media personality Refik Anadol received more than $200,000 in cryptocurrencies, which he pledged to forward to AHBAP.
One of the largest individual donors is the Avalanche Foundation, which donated $1 million in AVAX to AHBAP. Additionally, Ethereum blockchain founder Vitalik Buterin and Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun donated $150,000 and $65,000, respectively.
Elliptic Investigator shows donations coming to AHBAP from Refik Anadol, Vitalik Buterin and numerous other donor campaigns.
Global humanitarian organizations reiterate openness to crypto donations
A number of global charities sending aid to Turkey – such as Save the Children US – have emphasized their willingness to accept crypto-asset donations. Giving Block – which facilitates crypto donations to a range of charities – also has announced that donors can donate to the many charities that help provide relief through their services.
Sorry, I couldn’t DM you. We accept #BTC, #ETH, #USDC and other tokens to support our Children’s Emergency Fund which includes our Turkey/Syria earthquake response. Please indicate your wishes in the “donation notes” field on our crypto donation page: https://t.co/IfCyeQ6Qbv
— Save the Children US (@SavetheChildren) February 6, 2023
How web3 philanthropy helps
Despite strict regulations, Turkey has become one of the largest crypto markets in the region in recent years and is home to many decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and developers. Because of this, many web3-based donation drives have quickly become popular.
Campaigns include the Etherscan verified Decentralized Autonomous Earthquake Relief Organization (DAO), the Unsung Heroes NFT campaign by Utilify, and donation wallets announced by a number of other web3 organizations. One NFT project – called “Verification of Humanity” – has raised over $120,000 through its minting campaign. Over 10,000 users have donated to web3-based crypto fundraising campaigns so far.
Left: TurkeyReliefDAO, Right: Utilify’s Unsung Heroes NFT.
Avoiding donation scams
While the contribution of crypto fundraising to humanitarian causes can be significant, they also run the risk of illegal actors taking advantage of donors with fraudulent donation scams. The full Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 provided an example of this, with approximately $100,000 in crypto donations lost to the “Help Ukraine” scammer on social media.
Donors looking to donate crypto-assets to earthquake relief efforts are advised to take care to verify the legitimacy of donor campaigns and stick to reputable charities and donation channels where possible. This includes establishing the legitimacy of the originator, ensuring that there is a realistic roadmap for the distribution of funds, and verifying that pledged transactions are carried out as planned to the correct recipients.
Twitter accounts set up or renamed soon after the earthquake that advertise unverifiable wallet addresses for “donations” are unlikely to be genuine. A number of such high-risk accounts have already been called out on multiple social media platforms.
Warning: wallet addresses with little context from unofficial accounts – such as this one – are unlikely to be genuine.
Donors should be especially careful when donating to relief efforts in Syria, given the complex political situation in the affected regions. Illegal groups linked to terrorist organizations in the region have and are likely to continue to solicit donations under the guise of “humanitarian aid,” in an attempt to mislead donors about their true intentions. Donors should also be aware of any sanctions implications of sending money to Syria.
Elliptic is also taking steps to flag earthquake donation scammers in its tools to ensure virtual property services are not inadvertently processing fraudulent proceeds. You can also read our upcoming Cryptocurrencies in Conflict report, which includes best practices and red flags of cryptocurrency-based fundraising initiatives established in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
