NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 29: Sir Tim Berners-Lee auctioned the source code for the World Wide Web, which was given to the world for free, as an NFT at Sotheby’s on June 29, 2021 in New York City. The auction raised $5.4 million which Berners-Lee said would be donated to charity.
Noam Galai | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
This Giving Tuesday, philanthropy is undergoing a tech revolution. NFTs, known for pushing the art and entertainment industries forward, are innovating in charitable giving as well, and some of the crypto community’s biggest bulls and earliest backers are getting on board.
Gemini, the cryptocurrency company founded by bitcoin billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, unveiled in February a “Give Back with Crypto” feature, giving Gemini wallet holders the opportunity to donate to over 300 nonprofits, courtesy of a three-year-old platform named The Giving Block. The Giving Block provides the technology stack to connect the crypto community with the philanthropic community, meaning that Gemini wallet holders, FTX users, and all of The Giving Block’s other partners can donate any one of dozens of cryptocurrencies directly to a nonprofit of their choosing.
The Giving Block has become one of the mainstays in crypto charitable giving, partnering with dozens of platforms and exchanges and hundreds of charities. And, trendy as they are, the logistics and tax implications of crypto donations aren’t all that different from stock donations.
Donating cryptocurrency isn’t new; United Way was one of the first and largest nonprofits to start accepting bitcoin donations in 2014. Edwin Goutier, vice president of innovation for United Way, told CNBC that back then, “We saw a growing thriving community of individuals who were passionate as well as a growing base of wealth.”
Donating NFTs
Today, Goutier sees a similar rise with NFTs.
Jack Dorsey famously sold his first tweet as an NFT and donated the proceeds to charity earlier this year, and CNBC’s own ‘Haines Bottom’ NFT sold at auction for over $61,000 just a few months later. The Winklevii haven’t slept on the NFTs for philanthropy model either. To commemorate the 13th anniversary of the bitcoin white paper, Gemini displayed over 100 phrases from the paper on a former CNN billboard in NYC’s Columbus Circle. Each phrase sold as an NFT on the Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway, and all proceeds were donated.
If donating cryptocurrency is akin to donating stock, Nifty Gateway COO Patrick McLaren says donating NFTs is analogous to donating physical goods, like a traditional piece of art or a similar high-value collectible. And, McLaren says, it’s in the DNA of the crypto community. “I recall …….