Kelly Robertson
You have probably read stories involving overnight Bitcoin millionaires; in fact, at some estimates, there may be as many as 200 Bitcoin billionaires out there, though a few have publicly disclosed their crypto-earnings.
While some folks are spending their newly found fortune, some have opted to “hodl” their bitcoins to earn even more, and some others are investing their money. And then there are those who are giving back to the community, “because once you have enough money, money doesn’t matter.”
That is the tagline of the Pineapple Fund, an anonymous fund that is supporting charities with its Bitcoin money, with the idea to donate $86 million to good causes. As of mid-January, it has donated about $26 million to 33 charities.
Charities supported
From clinical trials of psychedelics for PTSD to teaching kids to read & write, Pineapple Fund is about making bold and smart bets that hopefully impact everyone in our world.
The good thing about Bitcoin is that all these donations can be verified as Bitcoin’s blockchain records every transaction in a public database.
Supporting research for PTSD
Pineapple Fund’s next big thing is to match every donation to MAPS, 1:1, to fund MDMA research for PTSD, which is a debilitating illness usually affecting people who are already victims, like sexual assault survivors who still suffer and are tormented every day since. Not only do they experience traumatic flashbacks, even sleep is no relief thanks to serious nightmares. It is life threatening.
MAPS is a nonprofit that was established in 1986 to develop legal contexts for beneficial uses of psychedelics and marijuana. Thirty-one years later, MAPS has found its most promising candidate yet: MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for PTSD. And they need money to conduct the Phase 3 trials so that, if everything turns out fine, the FDA could approve this treatment.
Who’s behind Pineapple Fund?
As we’ve noted above, the Fund is anonymous but from what we have understood, there is only one person behind it — someone who has been around the early days of Bitcoin and who now has more money than he/she can spend.
He/she really likes pineapple, and so the Fund was born. We’re not sure it’s even incorporated as a charity, but we’re glad to have it around. From a perspective of the entire civilization, it is always nicer to read that someone is helping the world make a better place than buying an expensive car.
On a larger scale, the Pineapple Fund has found a way to convert Bitcoin into something actually useful. And we love it for that.
