From a charitable donation of more than 200,000 USD in BNB in 2018, this amount has now increased to nearly 39 million USD and has remained quiet for the past 7 years.
Binance's Forgotten Donation Grows From $200,000 to $39 Million
Charity on “Blockchain Island”
- In 2018, Malta became the center of attention when the government announced a strategy to turn the Mediterranean island nation into a “Blockchain Island”, becoming a pioneer island open to cryptocurrency companies to operate legally.
- In that context, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange , is one of the first names to respond to the invitation.
- When arriving in Malta, Binance not only announced its support for the development of the blockchain ecosystem here but also showed goodwill by donating 200,000 USD in BNB to the Malta Community Chest Fund - a charity run by the current President of Malta, specializing in helping terminal cancer patients and people with disabilities.
- The donation was made through Binance Charity Foundation (BCF) – the official charity fund of Binance, through wallet address 0x480234599362dc7a76cd99d09738a626f6d77e5f .
Binance Charity's donation statistics for Malta. Source: Arkham (October 14, 2025)
- This move not only helps Binance create a positive image with the Maltese government, but is also praised by domestic media as "a symbol of blockchain technology transparency". In July 2021, Binance Charity posted on social network X that:
“These assets have been kept safe and transparent on- chain. The funds will always belong to the people of Malta.”
The last update we received about these funds was in 2021 pic.twitter.com/FyO7zNsqVk
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) October 13, 2025
- However, over time, as Malta tightened its legal framework and Binance never officially completed its application for an operating license here, the image of “Blockchain Island” gradually faded.
- During that time, the BCF charity fund kept the donated BNB , without any transactions. Thanks to the sharp increase in BNB price over the years (from about 6 USD in 2018 to more than 1,200 USD at the present time), the fund value has now reached approximately 39 million USD, an increase of nearly 200 times compared to the initial donation amount.
Charity turns into lawsuit
- This silence once caused a famous lawsuit in 2020-2021. According to documents published by Decrypt , Malta President's Community Chest Fund sued Binance/BCF for "slowly transferring" more than 8 million USD in donations promised since 2018.
- In the lawsuit, MCCF accused BCF of “unilaterally canceling the agreement and attempting to transfer assets to the United States,” avoiding the jurisdiction of the Maltese court. BCF responded that the dissolution of the organization was only to avoid duplication with the Binance Charity Foundation in the United States, and affirmed that it had no intention of going back on its word.
- At that time, the Times of Malta also reported that BCF “failed to submit financial reports for three consecutive years”, threatening to sue again. But a few days later, the charity watchdog clarified that the file had been submitted in September 2020, was just “mistakenly saved in an electronic folder”, and completely withdrew the accusation.
- However, since the official announcement of Binance Charity in July 2021, there have been no new updates. The fund remains on chain, with no signs of withdrawal, disbursement, or transfer of management rights.
- In a post on X, Conor Grogan (@jconorgrogan) – CEO at Coinbase – recalled the story of Binance's donation to cancer patients in Malta and urged Maltese people who read it to let the government know that the money could be used.
- Commenting under the article, Yi He, co-founder and Chief Customer Service Officer of Binance, responded briefly: "Yes, you're right."
Yes, you're right.
— Yi He (@heyibinance) October 14, 2025
- Yi He's brief response is XEM as an indirect confirmation that the fund is indeed accessible and disbursable, although there has been no official statement from Binance Charity on this.
Another charity wallet “sleeping” in Japan
- Not only Malta, Conor (@jconorgrogan) also discovered another charity fund called West Japan Disaster Relief that was donated by Binance Charity for the disaster relief campaign in Japan in 2018 - and has also been dormant for many years.
Here's another one: $38M of West Japan Disaster Relief funds are sitting in a dormant wallet.
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) October 14, 2025
It looks like about ~50% of the original $1.4M donated were withdrawn in 2018 at various times. But the remaining 50% appreciated 50x+.
Hopefully some good can come of this! https://t.co/sg5OIltqO4 pic.twitter.com/xSmkMf4F3M
- The fund was established after the historic heavy rains caused floods and landslides in Western Japan, killing more than 200 people. At that time, Binance called on the community to donate in crypto to support reconstruction and relief efforts, receiving a total of about $1.4 million in BTC, ETH, BNB and other assets.
- According to recently Chia on-chain data, about 50% of the funds were withdrawn and distributed in 2018 to local organizations and affected individuals.
- However, the remaining half (~700,000 USD) is still kept in the wallet, showing no signs of activity and the remaining assets are now worth more than 38 million USD, more than 50 times more than the time of the initial donation.
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