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- The Sweden based torrent software, Pirate Bay is considered a pioneer in adopting cryptocurrency donations.
- Torrent Freak revealed that the amount of Bitcoin donation has plummeted to $5 a day which is pretty much comparable to lunch money.
- In September 2019, the Pirate Bay had received a total of $1 million worth BTC in the donations as per the research provided by Trustnodes.
The Sweden based torrent software, Pirate Bay is considered a pioneer in adopting cryptocurrency donations. It had first introduced Bitcoin donations back in 2013 as per the the news company. Wired had first reported the activity of its public bitcoin donation address: 1Kqzbv4ekpJX3ohYWGEzMqzvf27VjBux35.
Soon after that, Pirate Bay opened donation options for Litecoin in late 2013 and for Monero in 2014. However, right now things are not going that well for the TBP team. A recent report by Torrent Freak had revealed that the amount of donation has plummeted to $5 a day which is pretty much comparable to lunch money.
Pirate Bay Clinged On The Donations To Stay Afloat In The Business
Apart from Bitcoin, Litecoin and Monero donation options, TPB also held SegWit wallets. Back in 2009, the four Pirate Bay founders were found guilty by the Swedish court for spreading illegal content. Consequently they were sentenced to imprisonment of 1 year and a heavy fine of $3.6 million were imposed on them. Since then they have looked upon these funds as more of financial resources rather than just donations.
Donations Hit Million Mark in Six Years
However in September 2019, the Pirate Bay had received a total of $1 million worth BTC in the donations, per Trustnodes. But a similar report by Torrent Freak back then exposed that Pirate Bay received a meagre donation of $12.76 a day.
Consequently, to overcome the depreciation, Pirate Bay came up with new Bitcoin addresses in April of this year. This is because by now it had become evident that cryptocurrencies alone were incapable of keeping the site afloat. The first donation of 0.007 BTC was received in the new BTC address by late April. Following which, 23 new donations were made in which 0.042 BTC were collected. They roughly amounted to $465 in BTC’s current market value.
Even if the significantly small Litecoin and Monero donations were added up, that would still amount to less than $5 a day. Nevertheless, the Pirate Bay site still is a potential competitor in the field of donations. However, keeping aside donations in particular, this in a way reveals the relevance of cryptocurrencies in pirate sites.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
