BitMEX joins the fight against COVID-19 with a $2.5 Million Donation

BitMEX, a crypto derivatives exchange from Seychelles, just decided to join 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.

The exchange joined the philanthropic battle against coronavirus earlier today, April 20th. Its operator recently launched a dedicated fund, called COVID-19 Response Fund. It also revealed its own contribution of $2.5 million in grants, which are to go to four different recipients.

Sending money to the right places is the key

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.”

After consulting with an advisory group, HDR Global Trading decided recipients for its donation. The recipients include a Biosecurity program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, OpenMined. as well as Our World in Data. Lastly, it will donate to two Gates Philanthropy Partners COVID-19 Funds.

Together, these organizations focus on capacity-building projects and policy analysis. Their efforts can help reduce biological risks, help speed up the development of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. Lastly, they can improve data research, and provide open-source support for data privacy techniques.

HDR Global also noted that every contribution to their newly-launched fund is completely independent of the firm founder's personal philanthropic initiatives.

BitMEX and HDR Global Trading are not the only ones

While the move is praiseworthy, it is certainly not the only example of major firms from the crypto industry doing this. Stellar Development Foundation, for example, 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 crisis relief.

Meanwhile, some companies did not make monetary donations. Instead, they provided their own computing power, which is normally used for crypto mining. Then, there is Binance, which launched its own campaign with the goal of raising $5 million in crypto for buying medical supplies. The supplies would go to the countries that the virus pandemic struck the hardest.

This is also not the first time that the exchange donated to efforts against the virus. It made the same move in January, while the virus was still only in Wuhan. Back then, it purchased $1.4 million worth of medical equipment.