Above and Beyond for Users: Delivering Aid and Supporting Communities
Main Takeaways
From day one, Binance has maintained a strong user and community focus. Since its establishment in 2018, Binance Charity, our philanthropic arm, has been instrumental in directly aiding those affected by natural disasters and supporting other humanitarian causes.
In 2023, Binance continued demonstrating its commitment to helping wherever disaster strikes, with efforts spanning from New Zealand and Italy to Brazil and Turkey.
Educational initiatives and addressing digital exclusion also remained central to Binance's agenda, with partnerships in Brazil and Georgia geared toward strengthening communities and human capital.
At Binance, we put our users first. From responding to user feedback when building new products and features to committing tremendous effort and resources to protect them and their assets from a vast range of threats, we are always on the lookout for ways to take care of them. We also go beyond the online world, leveraging the power of digital assets to provide financial assistance quickly and efficiently to those who need it most, such as people and communities hit by natural disasters and other crises. Whenever we feel we can lend a helping hand to our users who are struggling, we reach out as quickly as we can. Hereâs the summary of our efforts on this front in 2023, driven by Binance Charity, our philanthropic and humanitarian arm.
Support Amid Natural Disasters
Recent years have seen an uptick in the number and severity of natural disasters around the globe, and 2023 was no different in this regard, with floods, earthquakes, droughts, and deadly hurricanes taking their toll on communities worldwide. Such crises can have catastrophic consequences for people, and those who are already vulnerable tend to be hit the hardest.Â
Not only do such disasters cause death and loss of livelihood but they can leave tens and hundreds of thousands of people in the affected areas in dire need of basic necessities such as water, shelter, food, and medical supplies. Individuals and communities who find themselves affected by such massive emergencies require immediate aid and resources to rebuild their lives.Â
Responding to the rising severity and magnitude of natural disasters, in 2023, Binance Charity intensified its efforts to provide immediate aid and rebuild communities devastated in the wake of these crises. To do so, we worked with trusted local and international NGOs to donate cryptocurrency to purchase immediate aid, and disbursed crypto funds to our users directly in the affected areas.
Aid for Flood Victims, From New Zealand to Libya
In January 2023, devastating floods hit the city of Auckland in New Zealand. To support families affected by the disaster, Binance Charity donated $160,000 to the local charity, BBM, which facilitated the clean-up, home restoration, and provided basic necessities and home appliances to those affected. The effort helped reach over 1,600 flood victims.
Another major series of floods in 2023 occurred in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna in May. The disaster impacted thousands of people and caused extensive damage across the densely populated area. To help the relief effort, Binance Charity made a $100,000 donation to the Italian Red Cross (Croce Rossa Italiana), a key force involved in rescue and evacuation work on the ground. The funds were used for immediate needs such as medical support and essential supplies for the affected, reaching some 1,000 beneficiaries.Â
As part of another partnership in Italy this past year, we donated more than $600,000 to the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS hospital. The funds will go toward establishing a clinical nutrition center and funding four scholarships.
In September, a catastrophic flood struck eastern Libya, killing thousands and displacing tens of thousands of people. To provide targeted relief to Binance users in the affected area in the aftermath of the disaster, we airdropped up to $100 worth of BNB to all Binance users identified using the proof-of-address (POA) system. Around $150,000 was distributed to 12,362 users.
Earthquakes and Hurricanes
February 2023 saw one of the deadliest natural disasters in the modern history of both Turkey and Syria: a series of high-magnitude earthquakes that resulted in widespread damage in an area of about 350,000 square kilometers and a death toll of tens of thousands. In Turkey alone, 14 million people were affected by the catastrophe.
Given the enormous scale of the disaster, Binance resolved to act on several fronts. To provide immediate relief to those affected, we airdropped $100 in crypto to all Binance users identified as residing in the hardest-hit regions through POA. As a result, we were able to deliver $3M to some 31,000 users. We also launched an Emergency Earthquake Appeal to raise crypto funds for the people of Syria and Turkey. The proceeds went to the government-approved nonprofit Kizilay (the Turkish Red Crescent) and the humanitarian NGO Mercy Corps in Syria. The money thus collected was divided evenly between the two organizations, with $330,000 donated to help 3,300 people overall.
Finally, to contribute to longer-term recovery, Binance in July 2023 donated $100,000 in cryptocurrency to Ahbap, a trusted Turkish non-profit, to support the construction of earthquake-resistant steel homes for affected families.
In September, another strong earthquake struck Morocco's MarrakeshâSafi region, inflicting massive damage and loss of life. Relying on the proof-of-address-based user identification method, Binance located some 84,000 of its users residing in the affected area and announced a plan to distribute up to $3M in crypto between them in the aftermath of the disaster.
Bolstering Communities
Beyond supporting the victims of natural disasters, Binance Charity is always on the outlook for ways to make a positive and lasting impact on individuals and communities around the globe. We believe that facilitating access to technology and education is one of the best ways to achieve it.
One example of such an effort is Binance delivering a series of educational and community initiatives in the blockchain space following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with The Georgian Agency for Innovation and Technology (GITA). With contributions from Binance Academy and Binance Charity, we funded scholarships for blockchain education and organized local events and BNB Chain hackathons in Georgia, working to strengthen the countryâs blockchain community. In 2023, we spent $100,000 on this program, from which 180 people will benefit directly.
Some of our initiatives tackle the broader problem of digital exclusion. In 2023, Binance Charity made a $20,000 donation to Instituto Ruas, a Brazilian organization that educates homeless and socially vulnerable people in the city of SĂŁo Paulo to support their personal development and the ability to generate income. The donation went toward building a digital center to help people get online for free, as well as to facilitate computer literacy lessons for young adults.
A Record of Impact
Since Binance Charity was founded in 2018, we donated $31.5 million across 87 countries and helped improve the lives of over 3.5 million people. With our initiatives, we contributed to tackling some of the most pressing global and regional problems such as world hunger, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war-induced humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Combined, our spending on humanitarian causes exceeded $26 million. Another $5.5 million were used to fund our projects designed to improve access to education in blockchain and Web3 with a focus on supporting women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
To fight hunger, Binance Charity donated more than $640,000 to provide nutritious lunches to children in Uganda in a program that ran between 2019 and 2023, feeding more than 21,000 kids. Between 2021 and 2023, we also donated more than $120,000 across Morocco, France, and Nigeria to feed almost 22,000 people. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, Binance Charity gave over $6.6 million in crypto across 31 countries, impacting almost 2.5 million people.
In 2022, we provided humanitarian relief to refugees in war-torn Ukraine in an effort that distributed more than $11 million to support 423,000 beneficiaries. Another measure to support the displaced Ukrainians was our IT Generation initiative that delivered $1 million to empower over 2,200 students of all ages and backgrounds to obtain marketable skills and find jobs.
Also on the educational front, Binance Charity focused on promoting gender equity with initiatives like the 2022 program Women in Tech that used a $240,000 budget to elevate blockchain knowledge and skills of more than 1,500 women in Burundi, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia. In the same year, programs in France and the UK focused on improving studentsâ coding and IT skills received cumulative funding of over $450,000 to help participants access jobs in the tech sector.
Binance Charity also donated more than $3 million to fund The Lab for Inclusive FinTech (LIFT) at UC Berkeley, designed to unlock the potential of digital finance to benefit underserved communities worldwide.
At Binance, our commitment to always standing by our users, and going above and beyond for them, is unwavering. The essence of our work lies in the trust and faith of our users â a trust we must uphold. Whether we improve userâs lives by driving value online or extend our reach to local communities in times of urgent need, we aspire to always provide the necessary support and aid.