Edmonton’s Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation to accept cryptocurrency donations

The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation is now accepting cryptocurrency as donations.

In what the foundation says is a first for a health-care foundation in Alberta, the GRHF has partnered with The Giving Block to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

This will give the foundation a chance to participate in crypto-giving campaigns and connect with a new group of donors in Alberta, the GRHF said in a news release Tuesday.

“The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation is focused on research, innovation and technology. Capitalizing on the benefits of digital currencies felt like a logical next step for us,” said Mark Korthuis, president and CEO of GRHF.

“By accepting cryptocurrency donations, we’re going to open new pathways to fund innovative health technologies that will make a real difference for patients recovering from injury or living with chronic conditions.”

The foundation says it — along with many other charitable organizations — is still dealing with the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on revenue streams. The foundation sees accepting cryptocurrency as a new potential income stream.

“Bitcoin is becoming an important source of funding for charitable organizations,” said Koleya Karringten, executive director of the Canadian Blockchain Consortium, which helps guide businesses in the use of blockchain technology.

“In the blockchain ecosystem, we’ve seen how this growing trend is attracting a new generation of donors and technology companies to charitable giving, and it’s a great step towards wider Bitcoin adoption in general,” Karringten said.

Karringten said The Giving Block is a regulated charity with a regulated trust where they host the currency.

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“If you currently do have cryptocurrency in a wallet… Then you have the opportunity to go search the Glenrose foundation on that website, decide how much you want to donate, determine which of the 10 coins they offer that you are able to donate in,” she explained.

“The Giving Block will actually convert cryptocurrency to fiat currency for the charity. So it allows it to gain access and fundraise, but still be able to receive the donation in a manner that they’re currently used to participating in financially.”

Karringten said the Glenrose foundation is “championing the movement,” adding she believes the foundation will be one of hundreds of thousands of businesses that will be accepting cryptocurrency.

“We’re actually one of the fastest growing crypto-tech hubs in the world right now,” she said from Calgary on Tuesday. “We have a rapidly expanding mining sector where most of the major oil and gas companies in the world are starting to engage and do pilot projects in crypto-mining… the world’s first Bitcoin ATM company went live here.

“We’re very rapidly growing and becoming an epicenter where people are actually starting to flock from other parts of Canada specifically to Alberta.”

While cryptocurrency may be unknown territory for some, and some may have concerns with its safety, Karringten said there are many ways people can educate themselves. The Canadian Blockchain Consortium offers monthly classes about it, and which businesses are adopting the technology.

“It’s not going away. That’s the one thing, it’s going to be here for a very long time. Your money’s been going digital since the 1950s technically, so the wave of the future will probably be paperless money.”

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The GRHF helps provide innovative equipment, programs and technology to patients at the Glenrose hospital in Edmonton.