More and more charities are jumping into the crypto bandwagon and starting to accept transparent and cost-effective donations in cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, most charities remain adherents of the traditional fiat method. This is especially true of green charities, which reject crypto donations believing that crypto mining harms the environment.
In this article, you can familiarize yourself with the advantages of crypto donations over fiat ones. And also to dispel the myth that cryptocurrency is an evil that leads to global warming.
Key points:
- Crypto donations are secure and transparent pro bono monetary contributions.
- Despite the many advantages, charities do not accept crypto donations because they have a poor understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
- NOWPayments enables green charities to accept cost-effective and eco-friendly crypto donations.
Crypto donations vs. fiat donations
Cryptocurrency has become a game changer in the financial world. It brought people the long-awaited financial freedom and convenience that traditional monetary structures could not provide. Cryptocurrency provides many advantages, including transparency, decentralization, borderless and cost-effective transactions, and much more. However, the vast majority of charities still accept fiat as a main donation tool. This situation is caused by the fact that some non-profits are afraid to accept crypto donations due to disadvantages such as volatility and uncertainty in the field of crypto regulation. To better understand the current situation, we suggest you consider the differences between fiat and crypto donations.
| Crypto | Fiat | |
| Speed | 1 sec – 10 minutes | 1-5 business days |
| Fees | Zero or near-zero fees | 2.2-7.5 % |
| Security | All transactions are irreversible and recorded on blockchain | Charge-back fraud |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Privacy | Build-in | Not guaranteed |
| Regulation | Depends on the jurisdiction | Clear regulation |
So what makes crypto donations especially good for green charities?
Surely you are used to hearing that the mining of cryptocurrencies has a critical impact on the environment. Nevertheless, this judgment is highly erroneous. A significant part of the energy used for mining comes from renewable sources. This is because miners are always in search of the most cost-effective source of energy, and renewable energy is the cheapest option. According to some estimates, about 73% of the energy used for mining is carbon neutral. A significant part of mining farms uses the energy of hydroelectric power plants and natural gas. In recent years, the normalized cost of renewable energy has significantly decreased and is almost equal to coal-fired power plants. All this suggests that the harm factor of mining for the environment is exaggerated. In addition, mining is becoming an increasingly outdated method. Most modern crypto projects are aware of the importance of reducing carbon footprint and build their projects based on other more environmentally friendly technologies. For example, even Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has recently switched to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm, which has reduced its negative impact on the environment by 90%. Even more, perhaps you haven’t thought about it, but traditional banking, and even more, gold mining, consumes an order of magnitude more energy and has a much larger carbon footprint than cryptocurrency mining.
Thus, cryptocurrency is the best choice if you are a charity that solves environmental pollution issues. Some digital assets are significantly greener than fiat, for example, Cardano, nano, Algorand, or Ethereum.
How to accept crypto donations?
NOWPayments is a non-custodial crypto payment gateway that will allow you to explore all the benefits of crypto donations. Our service allows you to accept more than 100 cryptocurrencies as a donation option and guarantees instant payout and security. To start benefiting from crypto donations, you can set up one of the donation tools:
- Donation link allows you to quickly receive crypto donations by sending a custom link to your contributors or posting it on your social media.
- Donations widget allows you to accept 100+ coins as a donation option on your website.
- Donations button allows you to accept crypto donations on any website, blog, or anywhere else.
To use one of the donation tools, for example, integrate the donation button, follow the instructions below:
- Create your NOWPayments account.
- Navigate to the “Settings” >> “Payments Settings” section.
- Add your payout address and generate an API key.
- Navigate to the “Payment Tools” >> “Donations” section.
- Choose the donation button style (Black/White).
- Paste the code anywhere on your website, but replace the placeholder with your API key.
- Accept 100+ coins as donations!
Conclusion
Crypto donations are indispensable if you want to attract more attention to your charitable mission. Today, more than 200 million people use cryptocurrency for payment, storing value, trading, etc. In addition, the crypto community is incredibly concerned about the environmental situation, and many projects are being updated to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. Therefore, by accepting crypto donations, green charities can provide themselves with a flow of new contributors and organize environmentally friendly fundraising.