BitMEX Donates $2.5 Million To Bill Gates’ Foundation And Others To Help Against COVID-19

HDR Global Trading Limited, the owner of leading derivatives platform and crypto exchange, BitMEX, has announced its support in the fight against the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic through a COVID-19 Response Fund that is worth millions. 

As of Monday morning, April 20, the number of confirmed cases of the pandemic across the world has reached 2,414,098 with 165,153 deaths. The figures continue to surge as researchers and scientists are still struggling to solve the COVID-19 challenge and find a solution. 

BitMEX Donates $2.5 Million

BitMEX Exchange said in its announcement today that it has donated $2.5 million to four non-profit organizations around the world to support the global efforts in response to the outbreak. 

The non-profits, Gates Philanthropy Partners, Nuclear Threat Initiative (Biosecurity Program), OpenMined, and Our World in Data (OWID), would receive grants between $300,000 and $1,000,000. The four organizations were selected as they are leading the efforts in the fight against COVID-19. 

Gates Philanthropy Partners include The Combating COVID-19 Fund and The Therapeutics Accelerator Fund. While the former focuses on creating vaccines, diagnostics, protecting vulnerable people in Africa and South Asia, the latter is finding an effective treatment for the virus. 

The Nuclear Threat Initiative is an independent non-profit with a biosecurity team. The organization is working to identify the countries that are most vulnerable to the Coronavirus through the use of their Global Health Security Index. 

OpenMined is a community providing free, open-source education and support to COVID-19 app developers so they can adequately protect user’s data privacy. 

Our World in Data (OWID) focuses on research and data that are relevant to the world’s biggest problems. The non-profit is currently gathering and publishing updated information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

BitMEX believes that granting these organizations access to more funding would help scale up their response in tackling the virus as well as reducing the risks of major pandemics in the future. 

Commenting on the development, BitMEX’s CEO and co-founder Arthur Hayes said:

We are committed to thoughtful grantmaking and ensuring that our actions during the COVID-19 crisis can make the biggest impact now and in the future. We have, therefore, decided to make grants totaling US$2.5 million to four organizations that are making a tangible difference in tackling COVID-19 as well as mitigating global catastrophic biological risks.

Jack Dorsey Donates $1 Billion

As companies and entrepreneurs continue to donate funds and supplies to the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced last month that he is contributing a hefty fund to the cause. 

Dorsey, who is a famous Bitcoin proponent, transferred $1 billion of his Square Equities to Start Small LLC to fund the global COVID-19 relief. According to him, the amount represents 28% of his net worth.