The new program is conducted in support of terminally ill patients and disadvantaged children in Malta and Gozo. The news was shared with Cointelegraph in a press release Dec. 19.
Dubbed the “2018 L-Istrina Campaign,” the new channel will raise funds in aid of national charity, The Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCFF), which works to improve the lives of Maltese and Gozitan individuals and families affected by sickness, disability, or economic vulnerability. The Foundation’s provision encompasses medical assistance, advisory services, financing, social assistance and care packages.
Based on MCCFF’s outreach to 15,000 beneficiaries in 2017, the new fundraising channel is targeting an equivalent number for this initiative. Recorded on the blockchain, donations to the fund are fully traceable.
The MCCFF has further pledged to release monthly updates disclosing the number of beneficiaries to date, the form of assistance they have been offered, and a breakdown of expenditure across the campaign’s various support categories.
According to the press release, Binance, as well as decentralized internet project TRON, have each committed to donate $100,000 in cryptocurrency to the fund. The total sum of donations will be reportedly announced during a 12-hour internationally-televised L-Istrina charity telethon, at an as yet undisclosed date.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO and founder of Binance, has commented that “with blockchain technologies, we can solve the transparency problem in charity,” thereby generating more trust and participation in charitable initiatives.
President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, has responded positively to the blockchain-powered donation platform, saying it can allow companies in the space to express their “sound corporate social responsibility values, and to effectively show how the innovative technology of blockchain can be used for the social good.”
Binance unveiled its charity donation platform BCF this October, with an initial fundraising initiative for victims of the floods and landslides in Eastern Uganda. The platform supports donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and the exchange’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB). At the time of the platform’s launch, the TRON Foundation pledged a donation of $3 million to BCF.
This September, Ripple launched its own formal social impact program, dubbed “Ripple for Good,” which pools $25 million from the firm together with $80 million in donations to invest in projects focused on education and financial inclusion.
Other major charitable initiatives in the crypto space this year have included the non-profit initiative GiveCrypto.org, which was launched by CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase Brian Armstrong this June.
Binance is currently the world’s largest crypto exchange, seeing over $1.1 billion in trade volume in the 24 hours before press time.