Vitalik Buterin and Polygon co-founder to give $100 million to fight COVID

Vitalik Buterin and Polygon co-founder to give $100 million to fight COVID

Author: Robert Strickland (crypto-journalist)
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Vitalik Buterin and Polygon co-founder to give $100 million to fight COVID

Most of the donation will come from the sale of Shiba Inu tokens that Buterin received for free in 2020 from developers of the meme-based cryptocurrency

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal have donated $100 million to COVID research and prevention. Most of the donation comes from proceeds from the sale of Shiba Inu tokens (SHIB), which Buterin received for free from developers in 2020.

Buterin wrote on Twitter (the social network is blocked in Russia) that the money will be used to improve indoor air quality to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, as well as research on preventing the long-term effects of the disease.

The Crypto Relief Foundation, headed by Nailwal, already spent $100 million last year on research on the virus. Now, the foundation will allocate another $90 million USDC, which was raised from the sale of SHIB tokens sent to the charity by Buterin in May 2021.

At the time, he donated more than $1 billion to the fight against Covid-19 - 500 ETH and about 50 trillion Shiba Inu tokens worth about $1.14 billion at the time of the transaction. Now Buterin will add $10 million of his own money to the donation.

The creators of Shiba Inu sent Buterin 50% of the tokens (505 trillion SHIB) after they were released in 2020, creating hype around the project. Buterin destroyed 90% of the tokens worth over $6.5 billion in May 2021, with the remaining 10% going to charity, including the fight against COVID-19 and other research.

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