Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen announced to attendees at a San Francisco State University celebration on Thursday that the company would donate $25 million in XRP to the university. The University stated the Ripple bequest was the largest cryptocurrency donation ever made to a U.S. university.
As CCN reported, Ripple (XRP) was up almost 13-percent ahead of the open of European markets on Friday. The donation to SFSU was a continuation of Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative announced in June of 2018. The UBRI committed $50 million in resources that included funding, subject matter expertise and technical resources to 17 institutions around the world.
According to Ripple, the goals of the initiative are to:
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Collaborate on research and technical development that will stimulate widespread understanding and innovation in the blockchain.
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Create a new curriculum to meet high student demand for learning about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and other FinTech topics.
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Stimulate ideas and dialog among students, faculty, technologists and business leaders on topics of shared interest.
Crypto giving is growing fast
According toFidelity’s 2018 Charitable Giving Report, 2017 Fidelity crypto giving topped $69 million. The increase in giving was $62 million over 2016 crypto donations. Donations to Fidelity Charitable of non-publicly traded assets, such as restricted stock, limited partnership interests, and real estate, totaled $916 million of all 2017 donations. The Fidelity report stated these donations “generated dollars for a charity that potentially would not otherwise be available to give.”
Crypto giving ushering in a new way to give
A survey by WeTrust found that 77 percent of crypto holders have an interest in making donations to charity. The desire by crypto-holders to donate to worthy causes is evidenced by the outpouring of support for the 2018 Japanese flooding crisis.
During the crisis, global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, assisted flood-stricken Japan in the form of a USD 1 million cash donation and setting up a donation address, calling on partners to donate cryptocurrency. Two weeks later the cause had received donations valued at $1.4 million.