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Join us for an informal fireside chat with Michael Earley, an early pioneer in crypto philanthropy and part of the founding team behind The Giving Block, the leading platform for cryptocurrency donations.The conversation will trace how crypto giving evolved from the Pineapple Fund in 2017 — when an anonymous Bitcoin donor gave away over $55 million to charities — to today’s structured ecosystem moving hundreds of millions in donations each year.
Michael will share what it was like building The Giving Block from the ground up in 2019, helping nonprofits accept crypto safely and compliantly, and eventually scaling the platform to acquisition by Shift4 in 2023.
We’ll explore:
• The history of crypto philanthropy, from the Pineapple Fund to today
• How charitable giving via crypto actually works in the United States
• The role of smart contracts and decentralized giving models
• How the Malta Community Chest Fund should have handled the €30+ million Binance crypto donation — from the initial €200,000 pledge to what that donation represents today
• What other startups in the blockchain and fintech space can learn from The Giving Block’s journey
Expect a frank, practical discussion on how crypto has been used for social good, what best practices look like, and what founders and policymakers can take away from years of real-world experimentation in crypto giving.
Michael Earley was part of the founding team of The Giving Block, a leading platform for cryptocurrency donations that helped bring digital assets into the mainstream of charitable giving. He joined the team in 2019 and remained through its acquisition by Shift4 in 2022, finishing up with the company in 2024 after being involved in all aspects of the business.
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