During the last months and years, we have heard how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were growing in price. Most of the cryptocurrency market has experienced important growth rates and has helped investors to become rich, or even millionaires. Bitcoin has given monetary freedom to people all over the world. Those who invested at the very beginning are now enjoying their profits.
Most of these investors have been showing off their new luxury cars (Lambos) or their trips to exotic places, but just a few of them have decided to invest in charitable causes. One of the exceptions to the rule is The Pineapple Fund.
What is The Pineapple Fund?
The Pineapple Fund was started by an early-bitcoin investor who bought Bitcoin when its price was worth just a few dollars. The user did not know that years later, each Bitcoin was going to be worth up to $20,000 dollars, as of December 2017. Approximately three months ago, a Reddit post became famous for offering 5057 BTC to charitable causes. The user decided to call it “The Pineapple Fund.”
“I remember starting at bitcoin a few years ago. When bitcoin broke single digits for the first time, I though that was a triumphant moment for bitcoin. I watched and admired the price jump to $15 $20.. $30.. wow! Today, I see $17,539 per BTC. I still don’t believe reality sometimes. Bitcoin has changed my life, and I have far more money that I can ever spend,” says the post. “My aims, goals, and motivations in life have nothing to do with having XX million or being the mega rich.
And here is the interesting part:
“So I’m doing something else: donating the majority of my bitcoin to charitable causes. I’m calling it The Pineapple Fund, donating ≈$86 million worth of Bitcoin to charities.”
As of today, The Pineapple Fund has donated $54.3 million dollars and has supported 60 charities all over the world, according to its official website. At the moment The Pineapple Fund is not accepting applications anymore, but interested individuals can still donate to the project.
Charity Donations
Media from all over the world has been covering how The Pineapple Fund was working with different charities and offering its Bitcoins. For example, The Chronicle of Philantropy, has written the story of Linda Tannembaum, which received $1 million dollars for her medical-research charity.
The donations from The Pineapple Fund range between $50,000 and $5,000,000 million dollars. Depending on the request submitted, the fund decided to give more, less or the amount requested by the charity. It is important to mention that the fund did not donate BTC to individuals, just to registered charity organizations, to avoid confusing episodes or future problems.
Among the organizations that received Bitcoin from The Pineapple Fund we find the following:
- Watsi: an organization that tries to deliver health care to everyone. It received $2 million dollars.
- The Water Project: this NGO is trying to help individuals without water by installing local water solutions. It received $1 million dollars. According to its webpage, donating $68 dollars you can give water to 2 people. That means that The Pineapple Fund has given access to water to more than 29.000 people.
- The Focus Foundation: this is a foundation that wants to increase the awareness about X and Y Chromosomal Disorders. Besides that, the intention is to investigate about these disorders and help families and kids treating them. The Pineapple Fund has donated $1 million dollars to this organization.
We are able to keep writing about the different fields to which this fund has donated, from medicine to environment protection. All of the registered organizations that received founds are very grateful to The Pineapple Fund and now they will be able to keep working on their activities knowing that they have found an important support within the cryptocurrency community.
Apparently, all the remaining Pineapple Fund proceeds have been allocated, but the fund is still open to receive comments, suggestions or even donations. The Pineapple Fund is also inspiring other donors to keep funding different projects, because the donations do not end there.
Several organizations that have received money from The Pineapple Fund have received additional donations from other individuals and enterprises.
According to Chase Adam, co-founder of Watsi, since The Pineapple Fund funded them, the organization received $500,000 from another anonymous donor.
Pine, the name received by the individual behind the fund, explained that he analyses very careful the projects before giving them some money.
The three things that they analyze are:
“How impactful their work is (especially on an international scale), what new innovative skills they are brining to the table, and how efficient and sustainable they are. […] But to be honest, the biggest factor is my gut. I only fund charities that I trust, and with trust, I believe they are best posed to answer the more micro questions and good in this world.”
Mainstream Media Reporting
In general, cryptocurrency news and topics are mostly covered by specialized magazines, crypto webpages or blockchain technology sites. But this specific case was so important for the society, that very known traditional newspapers covered the story in a very detailed way.
For example, the New York Times wrote:
“The organization was started in December by an anonymous donor who goes by the nickname ‘Pine’ and claims to be among the 250 largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. […] Whoever Pine is, he or she seems to have found a way to convert Bitcoin into something actually helpful.”
Other important news channels and newspapers that covered the story are: BBC Radio, Business Insider, Forbes, CNBC, Newsweek, The Guardian and TNW among others.
In Reddit, The Pineapple Fund post received over 20K ‘likes’ and almost 3.000 comments. Two of the most important comments say: “Wow, this much better than all these stupid lambo posts. Respect.” “Exactly. OP is a good human being and they have my respect whomever they are. Spread the Love!.”
Conclusion
Several times we have heard that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are “virtual money” or “fake money.” Individuals do not know what Bitcoin really is, but it is starting to leave an important mark in our history.
The Pineapple fund is helping to show that Bitcoin is not always about crime, tax evasion or terrorist financing. Several countries do not allow the use of cryptocurrencies meaning that they also close the doors to individuals or institutions that want to help make a better world.
Hundreds of people thanked Pine on Reddit and on an Open Medicine, with a Tracy saying:
“I am so grateful for your extremely powerful gift to support ME research. We are all of us, or so many of us, living in various states of desperation. I see how many people have described your gift as “hope.” To me it feels like a huge source of validation. I don’t know what can be done to find a cure in my lifetime. But I fear for my daughter because I see warning signs. I hope this can help her and others who are younger than me. Research is our only answer. You are making it possible. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough. I am so grateful. You are giving us a chance at life.“
Behind every single project, every single Bitcoin donated, there are lives. There are hopes and dreams. Bitcoin and The Pineapple Fund are showing the world that good people exist.
