Share this article
Bitcoin Donation Cup Brings Out the Best in Business Community
The initiative seeks donations from World Cup fans and bitcoin community members alike from across the Americas.
By Stan Higgins
Updated Mar 6, 2023, 3:13 p.m. Published Jun 13, 2014, 5:20 p.m.
A global bitcoin donation drive is gaining steam just as the 2014 FIFA World Cup gets underway. To date, 10 companies from across the world’s regional bitcoin economies have pledged their support to the 2014 Bitcoin Donation Cup.
Companies from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the US have joined forces to sponsor the event, including BitPay, BitGive, Xapo, Mercado Bitcoin and Unisend, plus MexBT, ALTIS and Bitso.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Also participating are local support groups like the Colombia Bitcoin Foundation and the Fundacion Bitcoin de Argentina.
The Bitcoin Donation Cup enables fundraisers to generate donations by bringing scannable QR codes to locations where the World Cup is being viewed.
Sharing it round
Seventy percent of donations will be sent to a participating charity while the remaining 30% will be used to support the fans who are collecting donations by helping them pay for food, lodging and travel expenses.
Thanks to bitcoin's open nature, donors are also able to track their donations in real time for the duration of the event. Information on how to register and participate is available on the program's Facebook page as well as its own home page.
Alberto Vega, BitPay’s Regional Manager for Latin America, said:
“This is a great opportunity for BitPay to support many important charities throughout the world while introducing bitcoin to fans throughout South America.”
Charities are chosen by participants in the donation drive, with BitPay processing the donations and approving the charities that get involved. As well, the BitGive Foundation is also raising funds to use for its charitable causes.
Connie Gallippi, founder and Executive Director of BitGive, remarked in a statement that the project is bringing out the best of the bitcoin community, saying:
“It's amazing to see bitcoin users around the world support not only our cause but many other charities.”
Grassroots donation drive
The Bitcoin Donation Cup demonstrates how community-level fundraising is possible through the use of bitcoin. QR codes enable fast transactions between donors and receivers, and as the images in this article demonstrate, participants are relying on creative flair to drum up support.
Most notably, the donation drive’s self-styled mascot 'Mr Bitcoin' can be seen (above) interacting with passersby and football fans in Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.
Other passionate fans have also adopted flashy means of attracting crowds and, hopefully, raising some bitcoin for a good cause.
In addition to the donation drive, the Cup is a good means of spreading the word about digital currencies to consumers who are gathering around the world to watch the games in Brazil.
How you can get involved
The Bitcoin Donation Cup offers participation in three different ways.
Firstly, football fans can make their own posters and raise bitcoin, with special prizes (ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 BTC) being offered for those who can gain significant amounts of attention on both national TV and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. A real-time donation tracker on the Cup’s official website should make it all the more fun, too.
Secondly, community members can opt to simply donate to a charitable cause.
Lastly, those interested can take part in World Cup-related bitcoin celebrations happening at a number of bars in countries across the Americas. Those who happen to be in Brazil have the added bonus of being able to meet Mr Bitcoin himself.
Disclaimer: CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay
Images via Facebook
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Fed’s Hammack tilts hawkish on rates, questions CPI drop as distorted
"My base case is that we can stay here for some period of time," Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack told the WSJ.
What to know:
- Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, who will be a voter on the central bank's policy-making FOMC in 2026, says interest rates need to remain on hold for several months.
- She threw shade on last week's surprisingly soft CPI report, noting data-collection distortions created by the government shutdown.
- Other things being equal, bitcoin would typically benefit from easier Fed monetary policy, but that hasn't at all been the case in 2025.
Top Stories
