While it is certainly true Bitcoin can make a significant impact as far as relief efforts are concerned, it is vastly underutilised. Although several charitable organisations started accepting Bitcoin donations of late, most of them still refuse to give cryptocurrency a chance. But that is not keeping individuals from trying to set up their own campaigns at the same time.
Bitcoin And Charity Is A Dangerous Combination
On paper, there is nothing wrong with people who take it upon themselves to raise Bitcoin donations for a good cause. Since everyone can see the transactions in real-time, they can also keep an eye on the wallet address receiving the funds. In a way, this is far more transparent compared to what is happening through traditional channels.
But herein also lies a problem, as the funds will need to be converted to local currency at some point. Once that happens, individual donors have to rely on the person organizing the campaign to give the funds to the people who need it. This has been a big issue for any donations in the charity sector over recent years.
Decentralizing the whole aspect of charitable donations sounds great, but it will be very difficult to achieve. In fact, it would require multisignature addresses and very strict smart contract rules. Since both of these technologies are still in the early stages – and riddled with bugs in some cases – that future will remain a distant dream for now.
Trust is an integral factor of spending charitable donations in a proper manner. Unfortunately, that same trust can be lost easily, while taking many years to rebuild. Some form of a solution has to be created to give Bitcoin a role in the grand scheme of charitable causes. After all, it is all about sharing, caring, and helping those in need.
The benefits of Bitcoin for charitable donations are quite easy to spot. Anyone in the world can pledge any amount they would like, regardless of how small or large it is. Since the sender pays transaction fees, recipients will not have to worry about that either. Moreover, Bitcoin allows anyone in the world to donate funds to anyone else in the world.
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