igot Raises Funds for the Red Cross

The bitcoin exchange, igot, recently arranged an emergency Bitcoin appeal to help the thousands of people in Nepal who are in need. The funds will be used by the Red Cross in a relief effort estimated to require at least US$34 million to assist Nepal over the next 18 months.

“[The Red Cross] already had a presence in Nepal and understand the local environment, and they are a key part of the Nepalese government’s disaster procedures,”
— – Rick Day, igot Founder

Reports on the extent of the disaster vary from source to source, a recent Nepalese Red Cross press release advises 7,700 people have been killed, over 16,400 have been injured and over 500,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Eight million people have been affected and are in need of basic necessities or have been displaced.

In the press release the Nepalese Red Cross advises they have disaster teams operating in the most affected regions. 4,000 first aid volunteers will be mobilizing throughout the districts, distributing shelter materials, hygiene kits, blankets, health care supplies and food.

“More than 28,000 tarps, 2,000 sets of relief supplies and almost 242 million water purification tablets have already been distributed. More than 4,000 first aid volunteers have mobilized throughout the districts,”
— – Red Cross

igot will be contributing to the effort by reaching out to the Bitcoin community in hopes that some will be able to provide monetary assistance to further this effort. igot states 100% of the funds will be received by the Red Cross. They have also promised that through the month of May 50% of their transfer commissions will be donated to the cause. Every seven days igot will convert the donated bitcoin into fiat, and send the money to the Red Cross cash transfer programming team operating out of Nepal.

Day explained that setting up igots Bitcoin appeal was a simple task. As soon as the decision was made the igot team designed a dedicated webpage, created and displayed a public bitcoin address, and registered the url  bitcoinfornepal.com  “That was it. In less than two days, we were able to start collecting to help the Red Cross Society’s emergency relief efforts.”

“Bitcoin is an instantaneous and simple-to-deploy money-collecting tool and it would be great if all charities became aware of its benefits.”
— – Day

Today it is considered acceptable for any non-profit or merchant to be charged 3%-5% in processing fees by credit card companies. However, igot crunched the numbers and the results are quite astonishing. If the targeted $34 million in donations were received by the Red Cross via credit card, at a 3% fee, the organization and the people of Nepal would lose $1,020,000.

So far, the  Bitcoin community have contributed 4.29 BTC, just over US$1000 at todays exchange rate, to the igot appeal. Day believes this figure will grow exponentially. “We will keep using our social media channels to remind people that this awful situation in the Kathmandu region is not an event which can be remedied overnight”

“We all need to keep helping the Nepalese people in whatever way we can. For most of us, that will be via donations and spreading this message as widely as possible.”
— – Day