Non-profit organizations can now avail of a faster and cheaper way of receiving crypto donations from anywhere in the world. Unlike other services of the same nature, organizations can also withdraw funds from their account anytime, anywhere with no minimum maintaining balance required.
PDAX, a BSP-regulated exchange that lets you trade in bitcoins, ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies in Philippine peso, has just launched its “Donate” service that will enable non-governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, charities, and foundations to accept donations in the form of cryptocurrencies through a dedicated donation website.
PDAX will create a dedicated donation website for its partner organizations, where they can accept crypto donations from anyone in the world. The website will serve as an additional global donation channel for the organizations. The crypto donations will be credited directly to the organization’s PDAX wallet and the donated funds will be held as crypto and can be converted to Philippine Peso anytime to reduce exposure to price volatility.
Organizations can also rest assured that their crypto donations will remain secure in their wallets as the platform employs various security measures. On top of this, PDAX, which serves as the tech partner for the charity organization, is a virtual asset provider licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The new service offering is a timely effort for Philippine-based charities so they can tap directly into the growing crypto community. Based on data from Triple A, a cryptocurrency company based in Singapore, there are currently an estimated 7 million crypto users in the Philippines.
How PDAX Donate works
At present, foreign donors face limitations when sending funds to Philippine-based groups due to the lack of financial services allowing direct fund transfers, and most often, these come with expensive fees and take a few days to process.
With the PDAX Donate service, non-profit organizations will now have access to a global community of donors. They can choose to receive crypto donations which can easily be sent to anyone from their crypto wallets, in real-time, and with lower transaction costs. PDAX Donate will allow donors to send their crypto donations using any of the 25 tokens currently being offered by the platform. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Tether (USDT), Cardano (ADA), Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), Smooth Love Potion (SLP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Sushi (SUSHI) Stellar (XLM) and BNB.
This is made possible by the use of blockchain technology, which allows for real-time settlements with minimal transaction costs.
Crypto is now starting to be considered for global donations as more people use digital assets. Data from Crypto.com shows that as of July last year, there are now about 230 million crypto users around the world and this includes millions of Filipinos.
DONATE service as a company advocacy
According to Nichel Gaba, Founder, and CEO of PDAX, the new PDAX Donate service is part of the company’s advocacy of promoting and enabling financial inclusion in the Philippines with the help of blockchain technology.
“Over the past two years, we saw how crypto has drastically changed the way Filipinos view and earn money. With just their smartphones, they can earn enough income to cover their basic needs and even more,” Gaba said. “With PDAX Donate, Filipinos can now also use their crypto to donate to the NGOs and charities of their choice with just a click of a button. Not only does this promote financial freedom, but also bayanihan among Filipinos.”
The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation (Yellow Boat) and the Jesuit Communication Foundation (Jescom) are the first two non-profit organizations that have partnered with PDAX for their Donate service. More charity organizations have also since expressed interest in accepting crypto donations.
“During the pandemic, we discovered two things: millions of Filipinos are willing to help out where they can, even during an economic crisis, and crypto is revolutionizing the way people exchange goods and services. We’re glad that PDAX has found a way to address these two trends with PDAX Donate,” Jesuit Communications Foundation Executive Director Fr. Nono Alfonso said.
“We are happy to partner with PDAX in exploring a new way to raise donations that will benefit our countrymen. We believe that technology adoption can indeed make a difference in pushing social good campaigns and advocacies since we are in the dawn of digital transformation. We tapped PDAX because of its reputation as a government-licensed and reliable crypto platform,” exclaimed Jay Jaboneta, the Co-Founder of Yellow Boat Foundation.
Cryptocurrencies are currently gaining acceptance among various charity groups. In recent years, global organizations such as Children International, UNICEF, World Vision, American Red Cross, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few, have adopted crypto as another mode of payment for donations.
Last year, the play-to-earn gaming group Yield Guild Games (YGG) also led a crypto donation drive in the Philippines to assist victims of Typhoon Odette. The company was able to raise as much as $1.4 million in just three weeks.