Back in May, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin donated over $1 billion in ETH and meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) to an Indian COVID relief fund. The meme coins had been sent to Buterin by the creator of the meme coin Shiba Inu. This had been done as a marketing stunt to increase the value of the coin. And it worked. After receiving the coins, which were in the trillions, the Ethereum founder promptly donated $1.14 billion’s worth of coins. This was about 10% of the total amount sent to the CEO.
The total contributions made by the founder were about $1.5 billion. 500 Ethereum and 50 trillion Shiba Inu coins were donated to the relief fund by Buterin.
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The founder had received almost 500 trillion worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) coins. After the donation, Buterin then went ahead to burn what was left of the coins in his holding. About 420 trillion SHIB coins were sent to a dead wallet. Getting rid of almost half of the entire circulating supply of Shiba Inu tokens.
Relief At The Grassroots Level
A report from Bloomberg has outlined how much and what the donated funds have been used for so far. According to Nailwal, he has so far paid out $20 million from the relief fund. And there is another $20 million in the pipeline getting ready to be disbursed in a way that it reaches the grassroots level.
SHIB price currently trading at $0.00000630 | Source: SHIBUSD on TradingView.com
The fund has made contributions to organizations distributing food in the country as the pandemic rages on. Most notably donating to 10 Bed ICU, an organization dedicated to setting up mini-intensive care wards in rural areas. Areas where there are patients with severe cases of COVID and no access to proper facilities to combat the virus.
Preparations are now ongoing to make sure the country is well-positioned to handle a third wave of the virus. Nailwal is quoted saying, “We have been in preparation for the third wave.”
Converting Shiba Inu Tokens To Fiat
Bloomberg’s report explained how the fund has been liquidating the donated funds. The fund has had to navigate government regulations. And in India, government regulations do not favor cryptocurrencies. Nor does it favor their use in the country.
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The tokens have been gradually converted to dollars. And then the dollars have been converted to rupees. In order to comply with India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. And so far, the conversions have seen about 80% liquidated.
Also having to cash out an illiquid asset like Shiba Inu presents its own challenges. Although this would not necessarily be a problem with cashing out the donated Ethereum. And lastly, Sandeep Nailwal, who is in charge of the fund, has had to make sure the money was getting to the right places.
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Also, the value of the donated SHIB tokens has nosedived since the donation took place. Right after the donation, the price of Shiba Inu had crashed about 50%. So, Nailwal estimates the tokens are now worth about $400,000 at the current price.
Sandeep Nailwal plans to hire a “big-name” audit firm in order to ensure complete transparency of the whole process.
Featured image from Cryptoknowmics, chart from TradingView.com