Fidelity Charitable Now Accepts XRP for Donations, Says It Received Over $100 Million in Cryptos So Far

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XRP Acceptance Reaches 40 Million Locations in 180 Countries
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Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity foundation founded in 1991, is now receiving Ripple’s XRP as part of its donations. Also, the charity organization has received over $100 million in cryptocurrencies since it began accepting the asset class in 2015, according to its 2019 financial giving report.

Fidelity Charitable Donated Over $5 Billion to Charity in 2018

Per the report, Fidelity Charitable was able to give more than $5 billion to charity in 2018. The funds were from the contributions it had received from over 200,000 donors around the world. While 47% and 37% of donations were made with publicly traded securities and cash respectively, 16% were made with non-public traded assets such as cryptocurrencies.

However, unlike in 2015 where only four cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, and litecoin were accepted, Fidelity Charitable now accepts XRP. According to the nonprofit organization, $30 million was received in crypto donations in 2018. On the other hand, almost $106 million was received since it began accepting crypto assets in 2015.

Fidelity Charitable also said:

“Though cryptocurrency values cooled off considerably by the end of 2018, they began the year at a peak. Fidelity Charitable ability to accept cryptocurrency donations, including bitcoin, allowed these donors to eliminate any capital gains taxes and give the full fair market value to charity.”

Non-publicly Traded Assets’ Contributions Surge to All-time High 

Furthermore, the organization revealed that contributions of non-publicly traded assets such as cryptocurrency, private stock, limited partnership interest, real estate, etc. surged to an all-time high. Specifically, these contributions spiked to $1.3 billion in 2018 unlike the $916 million in 2017.

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On the other hand, some areas which the funds were put to use were also outlined in the report. Some of these charities are Doctors Without Borders USA, American National

Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Others that also came in the top are Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way.

Blockchain’s Use in Facilitating Crypto Donations

Of recent, the blockchain and cryptocurrency have aided the receipt of donations in several countries. Binance cryptocurrency exchange, for instance, created a pilot charity in February 2019. The Malta-based exchanged used Zcoin’s blockchain for the pilot to provide healthy food for students in Uganda.

In the same vein, IranRescueBit, an Iran crypto community created an online platform that will enable donations to be received in cryptocurrency. The aid is targeted at flood victims in Iran, a country that has been sanctioned by the U.S.