Ripple to Donate $1 Million in XRP to Earthquake Victims in Turkey and Syria

• The payments network would fund NGOs rescuing those affected.
• Binance, Tezos, and Vitalik Biterin have also pledged their resources.

It is barely two weeks since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake swept through Turkey and parts of Syria, resulting in more than 30,000 deaths and the destruction of property. As a result, the crypto community is pulling resources to assist disaster victims.

Ripple is one of the companies donating towards rescue efforts in the affected regions. On February 15, the company announced relief funding paid in native XRP.

‘‘We are committing $1 million in XRP to support NGOs providing earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria – through a relief fund on @crypto4charity and are donating $250k in XRP, and will match 2:1 all the crypto donations here, up to $750k,’’

The funds would reportedly go to the NGOs helping the victims, including – CARE, Mercycorps, RESCUEorg, ChefsForTurkiye, WCKitchen, and @chefjoseandres. The organizations distribute cash, food items, and hygiene supplies. 

Tezos and Vitalik Buterin are also among the donors

Ripple, currently facing a lawsuit from the SEC, is one among many crypto firms and industry leaders pledging their funds. Peer-to-peer transaction blockchain Tezos, for instance, has facilitated upwards of 50,000 XTZ to the Tezos foundation wallet, while the Emergency Earthquake Appeal, a fund by Binance Charity, has collected over $69,549.

Vitalik Biterin has also joined the relief efforts, recently donating to multiple NGOs. In the past few days, the Ethereum co-founder has sent over 150 ETH to multiple organizations.

The price of XRP was trading for $0.39 at press time, representing an additional 3% growth in the past day and a drop of 2.85% in the last week. From the daily chart by TradingView, XRP faces immediate resistance at $0.39, above which the sentiment could turn bullish.

Even as the crypto community awaits the conclusion of Ripple’s case against SEC, the latter has intensified its oversight in the industry. From cracking down on crypto staking and forcing exchange platform Kraken to halt the service to directing Paxos to pause its BUSD stablecoins, the US regulators have attracted sharp criticism from within and outside the industry.