Reddit Philanthropist Pledges $85 Million in Bitcoin to Various Charities

Christmas and the holidays are the seasons of giving – so it’s not uncommon to see people engaging in various charitable acts around this time of the year. However, one Redditor who identifies himself as u/Pine has taken the concept of generosity to a whole new level by setting up the Pineapple Fund.

Pine’s Objective

The Reddit user is looking to hand out $86 million worth of bitcoin to various charities through the Pineapple Fund.

The mysterious philanthropist took the internet platform by storm on Wednesday when he started a new thread in the subreddit r/bitcoin to announce the following: “I’m donating 5,057 BTC to charitable causes! Introducing the Pineapple Fund.”

As of this writing, the dollar-valuation of 5,057 Bitcoin stands at a whopping $86 million. But it’s likely to go even higher as Bitcoin prices continue soaring at an unprecedented pace.

When the Pineapple Fund officially launched on December 13, 2017, it had already pledged $3.5 million to four organizations. These donations included one million dollars to:

• The Water Project: An organization dedicated to implementing clean-water projects in Africa.
• Watsi: A non-profit committed to building technology for universal healthcare.
• The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF): An organization focused on defending rights and privacy of internet users.

In addition, the organization also pledged $500,000 to the BitGive Foundation – a global platform that makes use of Blockchain technology for philanthropy.

Some readers might be wondering if all these pledges are legitimate. Thus, the details of each transaction are available online for anyone to verify.

The website Gizmodo even approached the Electronic Freedom Foundation to confirm if the transactions purportedly sent to them were real, to which the organization responded positively. A spokesperson representing the non-profit said that the EFF was in touch with the Pineapple Fund to ensure a smooth transfer of the donation.

On December 15, 2017, another non-profit found itself on the receiving end of the Reddit user’s generosity. After other users had recommended that the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) should be rewarded for their efforts to legalize the use of psychedelic drugs and marijuana, the Pineapple Fund donated one million dollars to the organization.

The Reasons Behind the Pineapple Fund

It looks like the individual behind the fund wants to contribute to the betterment of the society after making some serious money through Bitcoin trading. The Pineapple Fund website explains the motivation behind its mission on the FAQ page:

“Sometime around the early days of bitcoin, I saw the promise of decentralized money and decided to mine/buy/trade some magical internet tokens. The expectation shattering returns of bitcoin over many years has lead to an amount far more than I can spend.”

As of this writing, the Pineapple Fund selected three more organizations. These include Charity: Water, and SENS Research Foundation, both receiving one million dollars each with an additional $50,000 going to OpenBSD.

“What do you do when you have more money than you can ever possibly spend? Donating most of it to charity is what I’m doing. For reference, The Pineapple Fund is bigger than the entire market cap of bitcoin when I got in, and one of the richest 250 bitcoin addresses today.”

Since u/Pine first posted the thread on Wednesday morning eastern time, it has gathered nearly 20,000 upvotes and 3,000 comments (and counting). The comments also include recommendations for organizations that the Fund could support.

“Can you please donate some to a mental health organization of some kind, sir??? So many people need it,” wrote one Redditor with the username u/MrGoofyboots. Pineapple Fund replied to the request by saying, “We will. This is one of our focus areas.”

In another comment, a user who claimed to be associated with Save the Children requested a donation saying that the organization had already applied. u/Pine responded by saying, “We will be in touch, might be a few days, but I promise you we will be in touch : )”

However, the Pineapple Fund made it clear that it only donates to registered nonprofit charities, adding that it doesn’t send any money to individuals. The generous Reddit user also pointed out in the original post that he is not giving away all of his Bitcoin savings.

According to The Inverse, the Redditor intends to distribute most of the funds within a month or two given the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency, adding that the organization would like to retain some bitcoin for the future.