India’s Crypto Relief Fund has returned Vitalik Buterin’s $100 million SHIB donation

<p>The COVID-Crypto Relief Fund (Crypto Relief), a community-run fund aimed at providing relief during the Covid crisis, was established in April 2021 and had received numerous donations within a month of its inception.</p> <p>Its cause received widespread support in the cryptocurrency community after Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency Ethererum, transferred 500 ether and 50 trillion Shiba Inu memecoins (worth approximately $1 billion) to the fund. In addition to Buterin, Australian cricketer Brett Lee contributed via Bitcoin last year.</p> <p>Nonetheless, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon (MATIC), revealed on Friday that up to $100 million of Buterin's SHIB donation from last year will now be returned to him.</p> <p>Sandeep Nailwal explained the reasons for this decision in greater detail in a tweet thread about the move.</p> <p>Despite its foreign origins, Nailwal assured that "Crypto Relief follows a systematic, controlled, and robust approach in disbursing funds mandated to be used for India." However, he also stated that as an Indian citizen, he must be "extra cautious in any of the projects to which donations are made."</p> <p>"Vitalik, as a non-Indian, can do it more quickly by making faster decisions and deploying to projects with higher risk but also higher rewards," explains Polygon's COO.</p> <p>The decision was allegedly reached after Nailwal discussed the matter with Buterin (who donated approximately 98 percent of the fund). The fund has already disbursed 70 million USDC and is reserving another 300 million to be distributed to needy areas in India.</p> <p>Buterin responded with a tweet, revealing that he has co-founded a new organisation (Balvi) to direct these funds. He also gave us a link to where we can track these funds.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href='http://paypal.me/cryptopirates'>Support us!</a></p>