Crypto Industry Pledges Over $3m To Victims Of Hong Kong’s...

The crypto industry rushed to the aid of Hong Kong residents who suffered the city’s most devastating fire in 80 years, claiming the lives of at least 128 people.

Some of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges and Web3 companies have pledged millions of dollars to support victims of the deadly fire at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po District, highlighting the sector’s growing role in real-world relief efforts.

Three centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs) have publicly pledged to donate $24.78 million Hong Kong dollars ($3.19 million) to aid the victims of the devastating fire, which claimed the lives of at least 128 residents.

The donations included $1.5 million from Bitget exchange, $1.28 million from Binance, and about $256,000 from KuCoin exchange.

Bitget contributed the largest share, aiming to support reconstruction and recovery in the affected community, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said Friday on X, adding that the exchange “stands with Hong Kong, wishing affected residents a swift recovery and rebuilding of their homes.”

The two-day fire began on Wednesday at the Wang Fuk Court complex and spread to seven high-rise buildings before being extinguished on Friday, in what the media have described as Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in 80 years.

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Hong Kong-based Web3 intellectual property company Animoca Brands has also started a token-based fundraiser, aiming to collect funds from the crypto community via an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and a Solana (SOL) wallet address.

The fundraiser is collecting donations until Dec. 2. The company pledged to convert 100% of the proceeds to Hong Kong dollars by Dec. 3, to support the relief efforts of the Hong Kong Red Cross. For transparency, Animoca will post a donation receipt showing the final amount collected and donated, the company said in a Thursday announcement.

Animoca’s EVM-compatible wallet had collected $171,000 while its Solana wallet collected $1,500 in cryptocurrency donations at the time of writing, according to cryptocurrency intelligence platform Nansen.

Source: CoinTelegraph