Recent years have seen an uptick in the number and severity of natural disasters around the globe, and 2023 was no different in this regard, with floods, earthquakes, droughts, and deadly hurricanes taking their toll on communities worldwide. Such crises can have catastrophic consequences for people, and those who are already vulnerable tend to be hit the hardest.
Not only do such disasters cause death and loss of livelihood but they can leave tens and hundreds of thousands of people in the affected areas in dire need of basic necessities such as water, shelter, food, and medical supplies. Individuals and communities who find themselves affected by such massive emergencies require immediate aid and resources to rebuild their lives.
Responding to the rising severity and magnitude of natural disasters, in 2023, Binance Charity intensified its efforts to provide immediate aid and rebuild communities devastated in the wake of these crises. To do so, we worked with trusted local and international NGOs to donate cryptocurrency to purchase immediate aid, and disbursed crypto funds to our users directly in the affected areas.
Bolstering Communities
Beyond supporting the victims of natural disasters, Binance Charity is always on the outlook for ways to make a positive and lasting impact on individuals and communities around the globe. We believe that facilitating access to technology and education is one of the best ways to achieve it.
One example of such an effort is Binance delivering a series of educational and community initiatives in the blockchain space following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with The Georgian Agency for Innovation and Technology (GITA). With contributions from Binance Academy and Binance Charity, we funded scholarships for blockchain education and organized local events and BNB Chain hackathons in Georgia, working to strengthen the country’s blockchain community. In 2023, we spent $100,000 on this program, from which 180 people will benefit directly.
Some of our initiatives tackle the broader problem of digital exclusion. In 2023, Binance Charity made a $20,000 donation to Instituto Ruas, a Brazilian organization that educates homeless and socially vulnerable people in the city of São Paulo to support their personal development and the ability to generate income. The donation went toward building a digital center to help people get online for free, as well as to facilitate computer literacy lessons for young adults.
A Record of Impact
Since Binance Charity was founded in 2018, we donated $31.5 million across 87 countries and helped improve the lives of over 3.5 million people. With our initiatives, we contributed to tackling some of the most pressing global and regional problems such as world hunger, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war-induced humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Combined, our spending on humanitarian causes exceeded $26 million. Another $5.5 million were used to fund our projects designed to improve access to education in blockchain and Web3 with a focus on supporting women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
To fight hunger, Binance Charity donated more than $640,000 to provide nutritious lunches to children in Uganda in a program that ran between 2019 and 2023, feeding more than 21,000 kids. Between 2021 and 2023, we also donated more than $120,000 across Morocco, France, and Nigeria to feed almost 22,000 people. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, Binance Charity gave over $6.6 million in crypto across 31 countries, impacting almost 2.5 million people.
Binance Charity also donated more than $3 million to fund The Lab for Inclusive FinTech (LIFT) at UC Berkeley, designed to unlock the potential of digital finance to benefit underserved communities worldwide.
At Binance, our commitment to always standing by our users, and going above and beyond for them, is unwavering. The essence of our work lies in the trust and faith of our users – a trust we must uphold. Whether we improve user’s lives by driving value online or extend our reach to local communities in times of urgent need, we aspire to always provide the necessary support and aid.
