Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is donating 500 BNB (BNB) each to Thailand and Myanmar following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that caused severe damage to buildings and widespread flooding.

Zhao plans to distribute the funds through Binance and Binance Thailand if a third-party onchain donation platform cannot be found to distribute the disaster relief funds.

“I hope everyone is safe in Thailand,” the Binance founder wrote in a March 28 X post before announcing the contributions to both countries affected by the earthquake.

According to The Guardian, at least 144 people are confirmed to have died as a result of the catastrophic earthquake as first responders in both countries continue rescue efforts to free people trapped under rubble.

Related: Thailand regulator approves USDT, USDC stablecoins

Disaster strikes Myanmar and Thailand

The earthquake struck on March 28 at approximately 1:20 PM local time. The epicenter of the earthquake was approximately 10 miles from Mandalay — the second-largest city in Myanmar.

The death toll in both countries is expected to rise as relief efforts continue, with 732 individuals reportedly injured as a result of the earthquake.

Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has called upon any country willing to help with the disaster relief efforts to provide any aid it can.

Crypto donations amplify aid during times of crisis

The cross-border efficiencies, low transaction costs, and near-instant settlement times of cryptocurrencies make digital assets an ideal medium for disaster relief funds.

Following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that impacted Turkey and Syria in February 2023, philanthropist Haluk Levent began collecting crypto disaster relief donations.

The Giving Block, a company that works with nonprofit organizations to facilitate crypto donations, also used crypto to raise funds for the victims of the Maui wildfires in 2023 and managed to give over $1 million to the relief effort.

More recently, in January, The Giving Block started an emergency relief fundraiser for those impacted by the California wildfires in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.

At the time of this writing, the organization has raised over $1 million for the California wildfire relief fund.

Magazine: Crypto is changing how humanitarian agencies deliver aid and services

Jeff Park, Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Asset Management, has gone on record to suggest that recent developments at the gold market might trigger a mass exodus to Bitcoin. Notably, the Bank of England is under scrutiny for extended delivery times on physical gold, fueling renewed debate about the reliability of gold-backed assets. As a reaction, Park writes via X:

“I’m counting down the days until a logistical disaster (or outright fraud) in the physical delivery of these assets shatters the faith of even the most devout gold believers, driving them straight into Bitcoin’s arms,” Park wrote via X.

Bitcoin Over Gold

Park’s statement comes amid reports that the Bank of England, which purportedly holds around 5,000 metric tonnes of gold, has delayed deliveries from what used to be a few days to four-to-eight weeks. According to a source familiar with the matter, “The wait to withdraw bullion stored in the Bank of England’s vaults has risen from a few days to between four and eight weeks,” indicating that the central bank is “struggling to keep up with demand.”

Market observers attribute these delays to an unprecedented surge in transatlantic shipments and rising gold inventories in the United States. “People can’t get their hands on gold because so much has been shipped to New York, and the rest is stuck in the queue,” an industry executive told reporters. The central bank’s backlog has coincided with growing stockpiles on the Comex commodity exchange in New York, which has seen its gold inventory rise nearly 75%—from 533 metric tonnes to 926 metric tonnes—since November’s US election.

Park further underscored the industry’s history of logistical and fraud incidents by pointing to two notable scandals. He first mentioned the Qingdao Metal Scandal. “Here’s the hilarious story called the Qingdao Metal Scandal,” Park wrote. He recounted how traders in China reportedly used the same stockpiles of copper, aluminum, and nickel as collateral multiple times, only for it to be revealed that much of the actual metal was missing.

Park highlighted another recent case with the London Metal Exchange (LME) Nickel Fiasco. “The LME found out that some of their nickel went missing! Instead of bags of the registered metals, bags of stones arrived. Even more shocking is that this is not LME’s first nickel fraud.”

More recently, Park referenced reports that global commodities giant Trafigura discovered a shortfall of $500 million worth of fuel in Mongolia. “I already posted about this, but worth refreshing that Trafigura lost $500mm of fuel in Mongolia three months ago,” Park wrote.

Such episodes, according to Park, illustrate the vulnerability of physical commodity markets. “You can take the ‘physical’ fuel out of Mongolia,” Park added, “but you can’t take spiritual fuel of Genghis Khan out of Mongolia.”

Advocates of digital assets like Park argue that Bitcoin, often touted as a ‘hardest’’ asset on earth, sidesteps the logistical complexities that plague the physical commodities sector. Yet, paradoxically, it still faces hurdles when it comes to regulatory acceptance and ETF structures.

“Meanwhile, the hardest asset on Earth [Bitcoin] can’t even be contributed in-kind to its own beloved Bitcoin ETFs, despite having near-zero logistics costs. But sure, let’s keep pretending this system makes sense,” Park remarked.

He went on to suggest that current regulatory frameworks remain a major obstacle: “Part of why people are so worried about ‘regulation’ in crypto is because they keep putting the securities lens on the asset that doesn’t actually work. Once you put the commodities lens on as the starting point, the world all of a sudden starts to make a LOT more sense.”

While the Bank of England has not issued a formal statement on the prolonged delivery times, observers see this as another potential wedge moment for traditional gold investors. If the backlogs persist, it could stoke further skepticism about the reliability of physical gold markets. Park and others in the crypto industry see this as a turning point that may pivot attention—and capital—toward Bitcoin, which does not need physical shipments or third-party vaults.

At press time, BTC traded at $95,961.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com