invezz.com
Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), a leading not-for-profit medical center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, has received Bitcoin (BTC) donations worth £567,650. A report unveiled this news on February 19, noting that the hospital got two contributions, each worth £283,830. Reportedly, the donor, who wished to remain anonymous, has been an ardent supporter of the healthcare institution in the past. However, this was the first time they donated in BTC.
According to the report, the donor sent the hospital an email in the past month asking whether they accept BTC donations. Seeing as the hospital could not accept BTC at the time, it conducted relevant research and got the approval of its finance department and its CEO, Mike Lauf before proceeding to set up a donation address.
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Reportedly, the account generates a customized QR code, which donors can scan to donate BTC. After the hospital’s BTC address was up and running, the donor sent the first contribution on January 28 followed by the one on February 19. Through the QR code, other donors can also gift the hospital BTC at any given time.
Commenting on how the donation has transformed how CCHC accepts contributions, CCHC’s senior vice president and chief development officer, Christopher Lawson, said
We are coming out of a period during COVID when donations were hard to come by for a lot of folks. This lets people know that we have the capability of accepting these cryptocurrencies in donation, and we have the infrastructure in place.
An effective instrument for donations
Per Lawson, CCHC discovered that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has regulations on digital currencies, including donations and gifts. The hospital found that charitable BTC donations do not attract taxes. As such, the donor will not have to report gains or losses to the taxman.
This tax exemption makes BTC an attractive asset for donations. He added that getting BTC donations gives the maximum impact on value. Apart from this, the entity on the receiving end of the contribution does not have to report any gains. To this end, he believes that other non-profits, including museums and universities, will soon begin accepting BTC among other cryptocurrencies as gifts.
However, CCHC’s concerns over BTC’s wild price swings have seen the hospital decide to cash out all BTC donations immediately to prevent value loss.