Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has launched a stablecoin donation channel for Nepal's official disaster fund, with Blockchain for Impact pledging $100,000 to the campaign. According to reports from crypto.news, the campaign accepts cryptocurrency before converting the funds into Nepalese rupees for the government relief fund. The initiative follows severe flooding caused by a glacier collapse in the Himalayan region on August 26, which resulted in at least 750 deaths and more than 3,000 missing people across Nepal and China's Tibet region.
Polygon's Open Money Stack provides the routing, bridging and conversion infrastructure behind the campaign, with Coinme and Cross River Bank supporting the payment pathway. As reported by crypto.news, donors can contribute USDC through Ethereum or Polygon networks. Engage Nepal, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization led by former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Scott DeLisi, handles the collection and accounting process before delivering the converted funds to Nepal's official disaster fund. The campaign accepts stablecoins to avoid exposing donated amounts to price swings associated with volatile assets like Bitcoin or Ether.
This initiative extends Nailwal's involvement in relief projects that began during India's COVID-19 crisis in 2021. According to crypto.news, he created the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund, which received 50 trillion Shiba Inu tokens valued at approximately $1.2 billion when the transfer occurred. In June 2023, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Nailwal directed $100 million toward COVID-19 research and medical infrastructure in India, with Crypto Relief supplying $90 million in USDC and Buterin contributing the remaining $10 million.
The Nepal campaign follows separate relief commitments from other major cryptocurrency companies. As reported by crypto.news, Ripple committed $300,000 on August 29 to support relief efforts, though the company did not specify which cryptocurrency would be used. Additionally, the Solana Foundation and NFT marketplace Mallow sold nine advertising spaces on Solana's X profile image through an auction, generating $166,946.50 for Nepal relief using USDC. The Red Cross estimated that more than 90,000 people had been affected by the flooding, with hundreds of workers believed to be trapped in damaged hydropower tunnels.
For U.S. donors, the campaign utilizes several organizations within the country's financial and nonprofit systems. According to crypto.news, Engage Nepal operates as a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization, while Cross River Bank provides regulated banking services and Coinme operates cryptocurrency cash and payment infrastructure. Nepal's government has not listed a cryptocurrency address on its official disaster-relief donation page, meaning the campaign serves as an intermediary for donors holding digital assets. The structure limits what blockchain records can prove, as onchain data can verify transactions but cannot independently show how converted funds are spent after entering bank accounts or government relief programs.
