At the dawn of Monday, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria. With the death toll estimated at 10,000 people from both countries, it’s no wonder why the catastrophic incident was dubbed the deadliest in the decade.
The cause of this massive earthquake was a 100km rupture at the East Anatolian fault, hitting the city of Nurdagi in the province of Gaziantep the hardest. The number of casualties has exceeded 37,000 and over 79,000 personnel are engaged in rescue operations on the Turkish side of the border. Unfortunately, the macabre figures are expected to increase.
The response of crypto communities
Twitter has been blazing about the incident since Monday, with crypto Twitter users being no exception in offering support and prayers. A crypto trader from Turkey has started seeking crypto donations, claiming they will be forwarded directly to NGOs and their local associates.
The Giving Block, a donation solution is constantly reminding people about the urgency of donating to Turkey and Syria. According to the organization report, the average crypto donation size amounted to $11,000 in 2021. This can only confirm how united the crypto community is in desperate times.
Binance was among the first to react
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as C Z was quick to react and offer his help. In a tweet from February 6, C Z expressed his condolences and stated that Binance was working on figuring out how the company could help the stricken countries. Only a day after, C Z announced on Twitter that Binance will airdrop free BNB to its users in Turkey. The total sum that will be airdropped amounts to $5 million.
Other crypto companies joined
Another prominent cryptocurrency platform that is selflessly participating in aiding Turkey is Gate.io. The platform pledged 1 million TRY and will donate aid packages to people in need.
Other crypto companies that joined forces to help include Bybit, Bitfinex, BitMEX, and Bitget. Bybit echoed their sorrows and emphasized that the necessary aid was coming. The crypto companies were joined by BitMEX, which stated that it “would be donating the proceeds of this week’s Trading Competition to the Red Crescent,” and invited others to do the same.
Bitget is yet another digital asset platform that has taken concrete steps. The company has allocated 1 million TRY to “aiding the relief efforts in solidarity with people impacted by the earthquake in Turkey.”
The strength of crypto communities
This is not the first time the crypto communities have offered help to those in need. A similar scenario was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. In such hard times, crypto donations are handier as such donations remove the shortcomings and barriers typical of fiat transactions.
