Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, has donated 10 bitcoins (BTC) to a charitable project in Russia led by political activist Yegor Zhukov.
10 BTC are now worth about $95,000, at the current market price, although in reality, the transactions took place between May 24th and 25th, when bitcoin was worth about $8,780.Â
According to Cointelegraph, these would be the 5 transactions involved in the donation and, as can be seen on Blockchain.com, the address contains 12.76 BTC in total, with another 2 bitcoins having passed through this address and then sent elsewhere.
The donation from the CEO of Telegram will be used to try to help the people most affected by poverty in Russia due to the spread of the Coronavirus. With the 10 bitcoins, therefore, Durov will contribute to buying food for people in need.
Zhukov is part of a project called “Mutual Aid” which consists of helping people without necessarily going through government aid. The objective of the activist group is to be independent of the government and Zhukov explained that this is also the aim of Telegram and cryptocurrencies:
“The main purpose of both crypto and Telegram is independence from the government. Thus, neither of the two should basically be regulated.”
Bitcoin in Russia
Meanwhile, this transaction took place at a time when it is not yet certain that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are actually legal in Russia. Recently, in fact, a BTC ban has been proposed in the country. The Duma is apparently about to block the circulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia thanks to a series of laws which have not yet been voted on.
Anyway, the donation of the CEO of Telegram occurred after the team recently had to stop its Gram and TON blockchain project, unleashing the anger of investors who say they are ready for a class to action.
In the past, Durov had also donated $1 million to Wikipedia.
