Crypto is no longer just for investors. It’s fueling a new wave of global giving. Photo by AI
When war broke out in Ukraine in early 2022, humanitarian groups faced a familiar challenge: how to get emergency funds in fast.
But something different happened. Within days, over $100 million in donations had poured in—not through traditional banks, but via Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Crypto wallets, not bank accounts, became lifelines.
According to The Giving Block’s 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy, it was one of the moments that spotlighted crypto not just as an investment tool but as a powerful vehicle for philanthropy.
This movement of crypto philanthropy is quietly reshaping the world of charitable giving.
It combines blockchain technology with donor intent, bringing speed, transparency, and global reach to a sector that has long relied on traditional financial systems.
While still new to many, it is increasingly becoming a preferred mode of giving for digitally savvy individuals and organizations.
What Is Crypto Philanthropy?
At its core, crypto philanthropy refers to the use of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), or stable coins like USDC—for charitable donations.
It leverages the technology behind these digital currencies: the blockchain, a decentralized and publicly accessible ledger that records every transaction.
Unlike traditional bank transfers, which often involve intermediaries and processing delays, crypto donations can be sent directly from one digital wallet to another, instantly, with every step publicly verifiable.
This method of giving doesn’t just change the mode of transaction—it fundamentally alters the relationship between donors, nonprofits, and the public.
How It Works: A Step-by-Step Breakdown
To understand how crypto donations work in practice, it helps to follow the typical journey of a gift:
- The donor acquires cryptocurrency via an exchange like Coinbase or Binance and stores it in a secure digital wallet.
- When ready to give, the donor visits the nonprofit’s website or a crypto-specific fundraising platform such as The Giving Block.
- The site provides the charity’s digital wallet address, a unique identifier where crypto funds can be sent.
- The donor initiates the transfer, selecting the currency and amount.
- Optionally, the nonprofit may use a third-party service to instantly convert crypto to traditional fiat (like U.S. dollars or euros) to avoid price volatility.
- The blockchain records the transaction, creating a permanent, transparent, and verifiable record of the gift.
While the financial path is transparent, the identity of the donor can remain private unless they choose to share their details, for instance, to receive a tax receipt.
Who’s Giving—and Who’s Receiving
Crypto donors tend to be younger and digitally native.
According to the report, the average age of crypto donors in 2024 was 38, significantly younger than the average traditional donor.
Most crypto donors also gave larger amounts: the average crypto gift through The Giving Block in 2024 was $6,500, compared to a U.S. national average of $813 across all donation methods.
Geographically, the United States remains the largest contributor base, with the report identifying New York, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., as the top five states by crypto donation volume.
On the receiving end, many of the charities accepting crypto are large and well-established.
Notably, 70% of Forbes’ Top 100 U.S. Charities now accept cryptocurrency donations, according to the report. But crypto giving is not limited to big names.
A growing number of smaller nonprofits are integrating digital asset donations into their fundraising strategies, often through intermediaries who handle the technical complexities.
A Global Opportunity
While The Giving Block’s data primarily covers U.S.-based giving, global trends suggest that crypto philanthropy is likely to expand well beyond North America.
Africa, for instance, has become one of the most active continents for crypto adoption, particularly in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
Though not the focus of the Giving Block’s 2024 data, the potential for crypto-based giving in underbanked regions is widely acknowledged in the philanthropic and tech sectors.
The same goes for Latin America and Southeast Asia, where crypto ownership is on the rise due to inflation, remittance needs, and limited access to formal banking.
These conditions create fertile ground for crypto philanthropy to take root, especially if more global nonprofits accept crypto and local organizations are empowered to do the same.
Why It’s Gaining Traction
According to The Giving Block’s 2024 Annual Report, over 1,500 nonprofits now accept cryptocurrency donations through its platform alone.
These range from global development organizations to medical research institutions and local community groups.
Several factors are driving this adoption.
- Unprecedented Transparency: Every crypto transaction is recorded on a public blockchain. This means donors can, in many cases, track their contribution from their digital wallet to the charity’s wallet, and sometimes even see how the funds are deployed. This level of verifiable transparency builds immense trust, assuring donors that their money is reaching its intended cause.
- Speed and Efficiency: Traditional bank transfers, particularly those crossing borders, can be slow and incur substantial fees. Crypto transactions, however, can often be processed in minutes, regardless of geographical distance. This speed is crucial for emergency relief efforts, enabling funds to reach affected areas much more rapidly.
- Lower Transaction Costs: Because crypto transactions bypass many traditional financial intermediaries, the fees associated with sending and receiving donations can be substantially lower. This means more of every donated dollar goes directly to the charitable cause, maximizing its impact.
- Global Reach and Financial Inclusion: Cryptocurrencies are borderless. They enable anyone with an internet connection and a digital wallet to donate, breaking down geographical barriers and reaching a new, often younger, and tech-savvy donor base. This also opens avenues for financial inclusion, allowing people in regions with underdeveloped banking systems to participate in global giving.
- Potential Tax Benefits: In many jurisdictions, including the United States, cryptocurrencies are treated as property for tax purposes. Donating appreciated crypto assets (those that have increased in value since you acquired them) directly to a charity can allow donors to avoid capital gains taxes and potentially claim a charitable deduction for the full fair market value of the donation. This can make crypto giving a highly tax-efficient way to support causes.
The Infrastructure That Makes It Work and the Risks
Platforms like The Giving Block play a central role in the crypto philanthropy ecosystem.
They simplify the donation process, handle compliance, automate fiat conversion, and issue receipts for tax reporting.
They also assist nonprofits in setting up secure wallets and navigating the regulatory environment.
In 2024, the platform launched new tools to enable recurring crypto donations, custom campaigns, and crypto fundraising for DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), expanding the reach and flexibility of the model.
Crypto philanthropy also faces hurdles. Market volatility can impact the value of donations, particularly if not converted promptly.
Regulatory uncertainty, especially outside the United States, can also create barriers to adoption.
And for smaller nonprofits, the technical learning curve remains a challenge.
Nonetheless, the sector is maturing.
With growing interest from both donors and organizations—and with tools now in place to manage risk—crypto philanthropy is evolving from a fringe idea to a mainstream giving strategy.
Beyond the Trend
What makes crypto philanthropy compelling is not just its novelty, but its alignment with the demands of modern donors: speed, control, privacy, and proof.
In a world grappling with complex crises—climate emergencies, displacement, global inequality—tools that accelerate impact are not just useful. They’re necessary.
The Giving Block’s Annual Report captures a picture of a sector on the rise.
In the last year alone, tens of millions of dollars were donated in crypto through their platform, and nonprofits processed these gifts faster and with greater visibility than ever before.
This is more than a financial innovation. It’s a shift in how generosity flows—and where it can reach.
Source:
The Giving Block. (n.d.). Annual Report2025.
