Binance Raises 1.4 Million USD For Japan Flood Relief

By Rishma Banerjee

Japan, has been the victim to heavy rains, in its southwestern part, which has led to devastating floods and mudflows across the region, since last June. 225 people have been officially declared as dead, 13 people are still reportedly missing, and almost 20,000 houses have been damaged, most beyond repairs. A similar flood of this magnitude had taken place in 1982, in Nagasaki, which had claimed the lives, 299 people.

Binance, which is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges as per market listing and trade volume, reported that it had raised over 1.4 million USD as fund relief efforts. A Medium post from the exchange says,

“On July 8, Binance called for actions to help remedy the disaster… With donors’ generous support, we have raised roughly US$410,000 USD more in crypto-donations at that time in 7 days [sic], making a total donation valued at US$1,410,000 consisting of various types of ERC20 Tokens.”

The exchange which had reached out to several NGOs, for-profit organisations, and government agencies for help in conducting the donations drive credited numerous partners like Peace Winds Japan, Momotarou Fund, Open Japan, Kure City Office and Bic Camera for their support in the issue. The first donation was deposited on 19th of July, and the operation was completed on 15th of October. A total of JPY 56,700,000 (63.03 BTC or 169.85 ETH) have been donated which in turn has provided help and support to more than 41,200 victims across the prefectures of Okayama, Ehime and Hiroshima are said to have received help from the effort.

The donations were carried out in phases, where the first one was conducted with the help of a local supporter, Miss Bitcoin Mai who converted 61.09 BTC (equivalent to 50 million JPY at that time) transferred to her bitcoin account by Binance, and then bank transferred it in halves to Peace Winds Japan and Momotaro Funds. In the second phase, cryptocurrency was used directly, and 169.85 ETH (equivalent to 5.3 million JPY) was sent by Binance to a crypto account opened by Open Japan on August 31st. On the same day, Bic Camera also started receiving funds from Binance, in order to procure temporary shelters and appliances in Kure.

Binance, however, in the medium post says that there was a lot of work left to complete:

“The disaster will have long term impact,” writes Binance. “The project is still ongoing. We will keep donating to relevant crises cause the disaster occurred [sic].”