Barstool Media’s Dave Portnoy is accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency donations for his small business aid fund. Less than 24 hours after the integration, the crypto community responded with incredible generosity.
The Barstool Fund was launched last week to raise money for small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, the fund had raised nearly $ 5.3 million to help 14 companies. More than 53,000 donors have contributed. For tax reasons, the campaign should run until the end of the year.
A large portion of these donations came from the cryptocurrency community after Morgan Creek Digital set up a bitcoin address through The Giving Block, a crypto donation company. In addition to Bitcoin, the Barstool Fund also accepts donations in Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, Token for Basic Attention, Chainlink, Gemini Dollar, DAI, Storj, Amp and 0x.
Anthony Pompliano, co-founder and partner of Morgan Creek Digital, tells Cointelegraph that crypto donations worth “at least $ 750,000” have been made as of Friday morning:
“It’s difficult to track every donation from the crypto community, but we know of at least $ 750,000 that has been donated in US dollars or crypto. The actual number is likely to be higher. “
“2020 has been a tough year,” said Pompliano, adding, “Bitcoin has been great for all of us.”
He continues:
“There’s no better way to end the year than with a new bitcoin all-time high and a few donations to share the love.”
Cointelegraph reporter Helen Partz reached out to Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block, who explained how crypto donations were accepted into the Barstool Fund.
Users can donate crypto to charity by visiting the Barstool Fund, clicking “Contribute to Fund” and selecting the Cryptocurrency option. There they can generate a wallet address and send the donation from their own wallet address. Donors will receive a tax certificate via email once payment is received.
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked an unprecedented response from federal, state and local governments as health officials battled to curb the spread of the disease. Shelter-in-place orders, while temporary, have resulted in the permanent closings of hundreds of thousands of businesses.
As Pompliano found, small businesses account for around 50% of US jobs and “keep the American dream alive for billions of people around the world”. The economic consequences of the pandemic, insofar as it affects small businesses, will be felt worldwide.
Congress finally agreed on a new aid package from Covid that provides an additional $ 284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). However, with additional lockdowns looming, many fear that relief efforts will be too late and too little, especially for hospitality businesses, which are hardest hit by stringent safeguards.
