Lightning Torch Reaches Final Destination, Over 0.4 BTC Donated to Humanitarian Aid

Charity-focused organization Bitcoin Venezuela tweeted on April 10 that the so-called Lightning Torch had reached its final destination, with all accumulated Bitcoin (BTC) donated to the group.

By the time it got to the organization, the Lightning Torch had grown to exactly 0.4108021 BTC, which is currently equivalent to over $2,000.

The Torch is an experiment first initiated by anonymous Twitter user Hodlnaut. The Lightning Torch is passed by sending the same BTC from user to user adding a little every time via the scalability solution, Lightning Network (LN).

Bitcoin Venezuela is reportedly responsible for the humanitarian initiative “Bitcoin for Venezuela,” recently reporting it had given away meals to people in the country during a power outage.

The organization also seemingly partnered with the donation-funded Locha Mesh Network development initiative. The project aims to develop cheap and open source do-it-yourself devices capable of maintaining an independent, decentralized and censorship-resistant network, allowing its users to communicate securely and send Bitcoin without access to the internet.

The Twitter user who first initiated the Lightning Torch relay has recently become embroiled in a conflict with Craig Wright — the industry figure behind the coin Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) who is also known for proclaiming himself to be Satoshi Nakamoto on multiple occasions.

Pro-BSV media outlet Coingeek reported on April 11 that Wright has set a $5,000 bounty in BSV for information regarding the identity of Hodlnaut, after the latter allegedly posted “highly defamatory and abusive tweets” about Wright.

The CEO of major cryptocurrency exchange Binace Changpeng Zhao then stepped in with a tweet on April 11, saying that if Wright does not change his conduct, Binance delist BSV from its platform.

In February, the Lightning Torch was passed on by LinkedIn co-founder and former PayPal exec Reid Hoffman. Before him, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey also passed the Torch, as did many other high-profile figures in crypto and finance.