Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently announced a substantial donation of $100 million towards funding Coronavirus research initiatives. The donation will be channeled through Crypto Relief, a prevention initiative fund established by Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon, in 2021. Notably, prominent figures such as Buterin, Balaji S. Srinivasan, and others have been supporting this fund.
Buterin expressed his intention to support Covid research projects with the $100 million allocated by Crypto Relief. Following discussions between Buterin and Nailwal, they mutually concluded that these projects hold significant potential and merit additional financial support in the form of “follow-through grants.” Consequently, they have decided to allocate an additional $100 million towards these projects.
Vitalik Donates Shiba Inu Once Again
Buterin clarified in a tweet that Crypto Relief would contribute $90 million in USDC (a stablecoin) to the donation. Interestingly, this entire amount was generated from the sales of Shiba Inu tokens that were sent to Crypto Relief by Buterin in early 2021. Additionally, Buterin himself will personally contribute the remaining $10 million to reach a total donation of $100 million.
It’s important to remember that the creators of Shiba Inu sent half of the total SHIB supply to Vitalik Buterin’s address, assuming he would hold onto the tokens. However, Buterin decided to use the SHIB tokens for charitable purposes.
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He made a remarkable donation of 50 trillion SHIB tokens, valued at around $1.2 billion at the time, to India’s COVID Relief Fund. Following that, Buterin burned around 90% of his remaining SHIB holdings by sending 410 trillion SHIB tokens, worth approximately $6.7 billion at the time, to a dead wallet address, effectively taking them out of circulation permanently.
For this recent donation, the funds will be distributed through Buterin’s organization called Kanro and will be transferred to a Gnosis Safe wallet. The donation will support various projects, including research on Long Covid, improvements in indoor air quality, studying airborne transmission, and the development of technologies like UVC irradiation.
Shytoshi Kusama, the lead developer of Shiba Inu, expressed his admiration for this initiative and enthusiastically exclaimed “Bravo!”
However, Buterin emphasized that COVID-19 and potential future pandemics will remain significant risks in the 21st century. As a result, he stressed the importance of a global solution that combines cutting-edge scientific innovation with practical implementation on a global scale.
