More than 5,000 people have been killed and thousands more have been injured as a result of the earthquake which struck Turkey on Monday. Now, cryptocurrency exchanges are coming together to offer their support.
Crypto companies, including BitMEX, Binance, Bitfinex, Bybit and many others, have also come to aid in the country as countries around the world have sent aid workers and rescuers to the country. According to Bitfinex, its relief program is being prepared for the people affected by the earthquake, while Bybit’s aid is headed to the affected areas.
A report has claimed that Bitfinex, Tether, Keet, and Synonym have pledged $270,000 in aid (in fiat) to support regional aid and recovery efforts. Bitget, on the other hand, has been rumored to promise up to $50,000 in aid. Additionally, BitMEX has announced that it will donate its weekly trading contest proceeds to the Red Crescent Movement, which offers disaster relief services.
There has been an increase in cryptocurrency transactions in Turkey from July 2021 to June 2022, as the country has the largest cryptocurrency market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). With a growth of 5% per year in crypto transaction volumes, according to Chainalysis’ 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Turkey placed 12th among all countries.
The Statista Global Consumer Survey of 2022 shows that Turkish crypto ownership has increased from 25% to 40% since crypto was banned as a form of law. However, the country has the seventh highest inflation rate in the world, according to the survey, and this has made more people show interest in crypto.
It is not the first time that crypto exchanges have rushed to the aid of earthquake victims. Different countries have also received help from exchanges as a result of earthquakes and other events.
It was reported that the Ukrainian government received a donation of $54 million from the Russian government in the form of crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, USDT, Solana, among others, during the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Not long ago, a co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, donated about $1 billion worth of Shiba Inu tokens to an aid fund in India dedicated to fighting COVID-19 during the peak of the second wave in the country.
