Barstool Media’s Dave Portnoy is accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency donations for his small-business relief fund. Less than 24 hours after integration, the crypto community has responded with incredible generosity.
The Barstool Fund launched last week to raise money for small businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, the Fund had raised nearly $5.3 million to help 14 businesses. More than 53,000 donors have contributed. For tax reasons, the campaign is scheduled to run until the end of the year.
A huge chunk of those donations came from the cryptocurrency community after Morgan Creek Digital set up a Bitcoin address through The Giving Block, a crypto donations company. In addition to Bitcoin, the Barstool Fund also accepts donations in Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, Basic Attention Token, Chainlink, Gemini Dollar, DAI, Storj, Amp and 0x.
Anthony Pompliano, co-founder and partner of Morgan Creek Digital, tells Cointelegraph that “at least $750,000” worth of crypto donations were made as of Friday morning:
“It is hard to track every donation coming out of the crypto community, but we know of at least $750,000 that has been donated in US dollars or crypto. The actual number is likely higher.”
“2020 has been a tough year,” Pompliano said, adding that “Bitcoin has been great to all of us though.”
He continues:
“There is no better way to end the year then with a new Bitcoin all-time high and a few donations to share the love."
Cointelegraph reporter Helen Partz reached out to Alex Wilson, co-founder of The Giving Block, who explained how crypto donations have been incorporated into the Barstool Fund.
Users can donate crypto to the charity by visiting the Barstool Fund, clicking “contribute to the fund” and choosing the cryptocurrency option. There, they’ll have the ability to generate a wallet address and send the donation from their own wallet address. Donors will receive a tax receipt delivered to their email once the payment clears.
The Covid-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented response from federal, state and local governments as health authorities struggled to contain the spread of the disease. Shelter-in-place orders, while intended to be temporary, have resulted in the permanent closure of hundreds of thousands of businesses.
As Pompliano noted, small businesses are responsible for roughly 50% of U.S. jobs and they “keep the American dream alive for billions of people around the world.” The economic consequences of the pandemic, insofar as it impacts small businesses, will reverberate around the world.
Congress has finally agreed on a new Covid relief package that earmarks an additional $284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. However, with additional lockdowns looming, many fear that the relief measures are too little, too late, especially for hospitality businesses that have been impacted the most by strict shelter-in-place orders.