Japanese Firms Collect Crypto Donations for Earthquake Victims

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 2 min read
A person’s finger presses a red keyboard button labeled “donation.” Japanese Firms Collect Crypto Donations for Earthquake Victims
Source: momius/Adobe

Some of Japan’s biggest crypto firms are building donation platforms to help victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

Per the Japanese news outlet CoinPost, crypto donors have already given “tens of millions of yen” worth of tokens to charities aiding earthquake victims.

These include the likes of HashPalette, a part of the HashPort Group, a full member of the Japan Crypto Asset Business Association (JCBA). In a post on X (formerly Twitter), HashPalette wrote:

“All cryptoassets donated will be converted into Japanese yen, excluding gas and taxes, and donated to the [Central Community Chest of Japan]’s [relief fund]. After the donation is completed, the results will be posted on the official HashPalette website.”

The firm and others have launched a campaign named #web3prayforJapan.

Eight blockchain networks have set up donation channels.

Namely, these blockchain protocols are: Palette, TRON, Cardano, Polygon, Neo, Qtum, the Mask Network, and IOST.

The earthquake devastated the peninsula on January 1, causing tidal flooding, landslides, aftershocks, and fires.

A map of Japan showing the location of the Noto Peninsula.
Map adapted from a work by Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) [CC BY-SA 3.0].

Japanese officials say over 60 people died in the quake, although rescue teams continue to search for survivors – and bodies.

Officials have said that it could take “years” to rebuild some of the villages that were reduced to rubble by the quake.

Crypto Donations Heading to Japanese Quake Victims


NEMTUS has spearheaded another campaign, which allows donors to give coins on the Symbol (XYM) and NEM (XEM) networks.

The campaign also accepts Japanese yen, and the firm added that it was looking at ways to “accept payments in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).”

Other firms launched similar campaigns, including the Astar Foundation, Startale Labs, and Oasys.

Astar and Startale’s donation page for the Astar network noted that “all donations, excluding gas fees and taxes” would be “used for emergency relief efforts and recovery support for disaster-affected areas.”

And the blockchain gaming firm Oasys has launched donation wallets for OAS, Bitcoin, Wrapped ETH, and ETH donors

Crypto donation platforms first began to appear en masse in February 2022, following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Since then, a growing number of global charities have begun embracing donations made in BTC, ETH, and altcoins.