The Italian Red Cross outlined a new Bitcoin initiative to purchase medical impediment after the initial Bitcoin fundraiser had exceeded the target in three days. The Italian Red Cross organized a bitcoin appeal to help acquire advanced medical posts for a triage facility in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.
After only three days of setting up the bitcoin fundraiser, Red Cross has revealed that it had achieved its target of about $10,710 (€10,000).In addition, the Red Cross announced that it had begun to purchase the equipment necessary for stationing the triage facilities.
This time around, the charitable organization has set a new goal of about $26,000 to procure the equipment needed for emergency operations, which involves a defibrillator with a vital signs monitor. In fact, this latest bitcoin project has met more than 75 percent of the target set from only 55 donors at the time of writing. The charitable group has spent about $20,000 to date.
Crypto community role in the fight against coronavirus pandemic
As the COVID-19 epidemic intensifies, the cryptocurrency community has provided several novel insights and hands-on strategies.
Coinbase, leading global crypto exchange firm, formally developed a code related to multi-stage coronavirus response plan.The Coinbase system entails how companies should respond to specific occurrences, such as increased cases within a vicinity.
An international group of developers has been rolling out the “CoronaCoin” whose supply relates to the number of COVID-19 related deaths. The project has been dubbed as an unhealthy joke, however, the developers have defended their plan by comparing the asset to the pandemic bonds; issued by the World Health Organisation, which also similarly amass value.
The digital currency community has engaged and contributed to various projects that are helping to combat COVID-19 globally. Platforms like Folding@Home, which capitalizes on additional computational power to assist in medical research; have gained tremendous support from the cryptocurrency community.
In particular, the Tezos Foundation has set up a pool of hundreds of XTZ to become the most significant Folding@Home contributor. Additionally, CoreWeave has redirected approximately 6,000 GPUs that were initially used to mine ETH towards the project.
Moreover, Ethereum based crowdfunding network, Gitcoin, revealed on March 14 that it had committed about $50,000 in grants funding; to the public health initiatives that are battling the coronavirus pandemic. Gitcoin is looking forward to raising at least $100, 000 towards the course.
The rise in crypto-related COVID-19 scams
Cybercriminals are capitalizing heavily on the coronavirus pandemic using digital currencies to obscure their tracks. Scammers have established “phishing” attacks using text messages, emails, and social media platforms; to exploit the panic caused by the widespread coronavirus.
According to a report by cybersecurity researcher Chester Wisniewski on March 19, fraudsters have been posing as the World Health Organization (WHO) to seek BTC grants through email.
Furthermore, a cyber threat research firm, DomainTools on March 13; published a report regarding a website that infects users’ phones with ransomware.
The website, named coronaviruapp.site, will infect a user’s mobile phone with COVID-19 themed ransomware; that resembles a heat map showing the spread of coronavirus across the globe. The malware demands a ransom in bitcoin.