Compiled by: Felix, PANews
On January 8th local time, a severe wildfire broke out in the city of Los Angeles, California and surrounding areas, burning down thousands of homes and covering an area of over 10,000 hectares. So far, the fire has burned more than 15,000 acres of land, forcing nearly 180,000 residents to evacuate, and an additional 200,000 have received evacuation orders.
The rapidly spreading fire not only threatens millions of California residents, but also threatens several cryptocurrency companies and members of the crypto community. In fact, many have already lost their homes and belongings, including hardware wallets.
Cryptocurrency companies and users in Southern California suffered losses
The wildfire has burned over 15,000 acres of land in Southern California, including major areas such as Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Pasadena. In addition to residences, several cryptocurrency companies have also been affected.
The staff of the Santa Monica Bitcoin office are located just south of the raging Palisades and Sunset areas. Several Swan Bitcoin employees who were hosting the Pacific Bitcoin conference in Santa Monica are also located just south of the fire.
The headquarters of blockchain service provider BlockDaemon are in Los Angeles, as is the crypto gaming developer SuperVerse. Spring Labs, a blockchain-based identity and tokenization company, is headquartered nearby in Marina del Ray. These companies have reported significant losses, including the destruction of hardware wallets containing cryptocurrency assets.
Some companies were luckier. So far, the Crypto.com arena (a Los Angeles landmark) in downtown Los Angeles has not caught fire. The crypto entertainment venues DaBank (Hawthorne) and Jungla (North Hollywood) have also been spared from the wildfire.
However, the impact extends beyond just crypto companies, as some residents have also lost their crypto wallets in the fires. Crypto KOL Monty posted on the X platform that his 70-year-old aunt lost her apartment in the Los Angeles fire. Most of her savings were in cryptocurrency, but she lost her wallet and seed phrase, and had no backups. Based on the comments, her wallet mainly held Bitcoin.
Non-profit organizations are accepting cryptocurrency donations
To provide assistance to those affected, some local charities and non-profit organizations that are providing aid are accepting cryptocurrency and stock donations.
The cryptocurrency donation platform The Giving Block has launched an "Emergency Response Fundraising Campaign" to donate to non-profit organizations actively assisting with the Los Angeles wildfire rescue efforts. The fundraising campaign allows the public to choose from seven non-profit organizations to donate cryptocurrencies to.
These include the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, First Responders Children's Foundation, Global Empowerment Mission, San Diego Humane Society, All Hands and Hearts, and Direct Relief.
In the donation campaign, the platform encourages the public to contribute what they can to organizations providing food, shelter, and medical services by donating cryptocurrencies, stocks, DAFs (Donor-Advised Funds, where donors can immediately receive tax benefits and retain advisory privileges over the funds), or gift cards.
Another cryptocurrency-focused donation website, Givepact, has shared details on foundations accepting cryptocurrency asset donations.
These include Baby2Baby, the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, the California Fire Foundation, the Los Angeles County Animal Care Foundation, and the California Community Foundation.
The platform states that the public can donate over 30 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Avax, Dogecoin, and more, to these charities and non-profit organizations.
Prediction market bets deemed "morbid"
Notably, a prediction platform has been questioned for "morbid" predictions related to the wildfire event, with multiple users on the platform creating various prediction markets to bet on the fire's spread, when it would be contained, and potential political figure resignations. One X user claimed "Betting on wildfires is morbid," while another said betting on such tragedies "is undoubtedly despicable." Some users even expressed concern that to succeed in their bets, gamblers may be incentivized to spark more fires.
In response, the platform issued a disclaimer stating: "The devastating Palisades fire is precisely the kind of event where the platform can provide invaluable real-time answers that traditional media cannot."
