On April 20, 2020, BitMEX, crypto derivatives exchange from Seychelles, joined the fight against COVID-19. The move turned it into one of the latest major industry actors to join the fight against the still-ongoing crisis.
BitMEX joined the philanthropic effort with a dedicated fund coordinated by its owner and operator, HDR Global Trading. The exchange also revealed its own contribution of $2.5 million in grants, which are to go to 4 different recipients.
The company believes that the best way for it to contribute to global efforts against the virus is via strategically directed funds. In other words, it believes that these funds “can fill gaps in the global response and rapidly empower well-equipped but under-resourced organizations.”
The recipients include a Biosecurity program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative – OpenMined, as well as Our World in Data. Additionally, it will donate to 2 Gates Philanthropy Partners collecting funds for combating COVID-19.
Together, these organizations focus on capacity-building projects and policy analysis. Their efforts will help reduce biological risks, help speed up the development of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics.
Even more, they can improve data research and provide open-source support for data privacy techniques.
Crypto Industry Responses to Coronavirus Pandemic
While the move by Bitmex is praiseworthy, it is certainly not the only example of major firms from the crypto industry doing this.
For example, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced on April 7, 2020, that he would be contributing a substantial fund to the cause. Dorsey transferred $1 billion of his Square Equities to Start Small LLC to fund the global COVID-19 relief.
Stellar Development Foundation also made the same move. It donated around 2.5 million Lumens earlier in April. The money will go to non-profits that are working on coronavirus crisis relief.
Meanwhile, Binance exchange had earlier launched a drive to raise $5M in cryptocurrencies to purchase medical supplies for the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, following on from its own purchase of $1.4 million in medical supplies for Wuhan in January.
BTC Gains Prominence Amidst COVID-19 Crisis
Now more than ever, Bitcoin is relevant to the global economy. Central banks over the world, starting with the US Fed and the European Central Bank, have started massive inflationary monetary policies.
Bitcoin – with its fixed inflation – makes the most sense in a world of inflation and loss of relative value of currencies having legal tender. There’s no wonder why the demand for BTC is strong in countries where inflation is high: it is the perfect hedge against over-inflation.
