Caritas Vienna: Welfare association accepts crypto donations

Climate change, war and economic crises. The list of global problems is long. The Horn of Africa, for example, is currently experiencing the worst drought in decades. Over 35 million people there are affected by hunger and poverty. According to a recent WHO study 43,000 people fell victim to the drought in Somalia alone last year. Millions of people worldwide depend on the support of donations. Caritas Vienna now offers to make these donations in cryptocurrencies as well, thereby setting a good example. Because the payment options of the more than 150 Caritas associations are determined individually.

If you want to support people in need with a donation to Caritas Vienna, you don’t need a bank account. The association also accepts donations in the form of cryptocurrencies. “All donations with cryptocurrencies will be used for people in acute emergencies at home and abroad,” it says on the site. Accepted cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin and Ethereum. The donation process is kept as simple as possible. After deciding between one of the two coins on the website and clicking “Donate now!” pressed, a wallet address appears with the associated QR code. Beneficiaries can then donate. Of course, you need your own wallet.

The path of the coins?

Caritas Vienna works with the crypto trading platform Bitpanda to implement the donation process. The donations should initially be held on hardware wallets and then “immediately” converted into euros in order to limit exchange rate fluctuations. Caritas can thus send the donations “quickly and in full” to the respective aid projects.

Why donate in cryptocurrencies?

A donation via blockchain has several advantages. First of all, it is possible to donate anonymously (downer: therefore not tax deductible). In addition, the sender and recipient do not need a bank account. In this way, donations can also reach people who are cut off from traditional financial infrastructures. Using the example of the Ukraine, Caritas refers to the possibility of sending assets quickly and inexpensively to crisis areas.

You can find out which wallets are available and what the differences are in our large wallet comparison.

Why Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Bitcoin and Ethereum are the two largest cryptocurrencies. Onboarding hurdles and fear of contact are somewhat lower for new users in this regard. The fact that you can opt for a cryptocurrency at Caritas also has something to do with sustainability. Ethereum has significantly reduced its energy consumption since switching the consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake. The energy consumption of the Bitcoin network is relatively high. But sustainability is not that simple with Bitcoin. The debate about it is one of the major controversies inside and outside of the crypto scene.

Apparently, Caritas has also dealt with it. “Roughly 60 percent of the energy used for Bitcoin mining already comes from sustainable sources such as wind or solar energy,” reads the website. And further: “The proportion of sustainable energies has been growing here for years. Bitcoin thus uses significantly more renewable energies than Germany, the EU or the USA”.

With the offer of the two cryptocurrencies, the association has found an elegant solution to put the decision about sustainability in the hands of the users. However, a donation option in the form of cryptocurrencies from the German Caritas Associations is still pending.