Binance will airdrop $100 worth of BNB tokens to its Turkish users affected by the recent devastating earthquake.
The world's largest crypto exchange announced onTuesday that it would airdrop BNB worth $100 to all Binance users identified to be living in 10 cities where the earthquake has had a significant impact, including Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman, Malatya and Hatay.
The exchange will identify eligible users using the Proof of Address (POA) process completed before February 6. Binance estimated that the total donations would be around $5 million USD (or 94,000,000 TRY). The exchange said:
"In the aftermath of natural disasters, people often lose access to traditional banking at the exact moment when extra funds are needed to help cover medical supplies, food and other essential needs."
Binance Charity has also launched a public crypto donation address that converts received funds to TRY and gives it to an "authorized NGO to help people in need." Binance founder and CEO CZ said:
“The recent earthquakes in Turkey have had a devastating impact on so many people and communities. We hope that our efforts will bring some relief to those affected. We are also calling on our industry peers to once again come together to offer support in these times of crisis.”
Other organizations within the crypto ecosystem are also stepping up to support the unfortunate victims of the earthquake.
On Monday, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced that it would direct 1 million Turkish Liras ($53,100) to the funds helping the earthquake victims in Turkey. The exchange also asked for assistance with local logistics.
Bitfinex, Keet, Synonym, and Tether have pledged TRY 5 million ($265,550) to go toward the earthquake recovery in Turkey. According to a press release, the funds are pledged “towards immediate humanitarian relief, and recovery efforts and [the companies] will seek ways to provide continued support towards helping Turkiye rebuild for the future.”
Crypto exchange Gate.io has also committed 1 million Turkish Lira to help the victims of the earthquake. The platform also established a Turkey Earthquake Recovery Initiative, a collection of 1,000 NFTs that is aimed at raising funds for Turkey.
Moreover, Turkish rock star Haluk Levent has posted Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Avalanche donation addresses for Ahbap, an NGO helping with disaster relief. The wallets, which are tracked by crypto research company Nansen, have so far received over $2.8 million in donations, with over 41% of that coming in the form of Avax.
On Monday, a devastating earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and western Syria, causing widespread damage and thousands of fatalities in the region.
Cryptocurrencies are becoming an increasingly widespread method of delivering financial aid to disaster victims as they provide fast, low-cost, borderless, and transparent transactions.
In February last year, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, crypto assets proved to be a useful method to raise money for organizations in the country as banks started to implement restrictive measures.