Bitme, a California-based Bitcoin exchange, began accepting Bitcoin donations to aid relief efforts in the Philippines in the wake of typhoon Haiyan.
And the donations have poured in.
At the time of writing, just more than 60 Bitcoins had been raised, with a total value of more than $47,000.
All of the Bitcoins in that wallet will go to the Philippines Red Cross.
The typhoon made landfall earlier this month and wreaked incredibly havoc across the country. The UN estimates 4,460 were killed an almost a million were displaced. More than 10% of the country’s 98 million people were affected by the storm.
CNN caught onto Bitme’s donations campaign early on and apparently gave it a big lift.
Bitcoin’s rapidly escalating value during the donation window’s opening has been a tremendous boon. In the weeks since typhoon Haiyan hit, Bitcoins have doubled in value against the US dollar.
Bitme is a project of Vaurum, a soon-to-be-launched cryptocurrency exchange for financial institutions. The startup is building an API that will work with retail trading and investing so brokerages can integrate Bitcoin into their operations. The company recently complete the Boost VC startup incubator program.
Elsewhere, Canadian Bitcoin exchange Coinkite launched its own donation drive and was able to send a check of 6,725 CAD to the Philippines Red Cross.