How Bitcoin Could Save the Internet Archive

By CHRIS MORRIS

The effort to maintain the history of the online world has gotten a big boost thanks to an anonymous Bitcoin millionaire.

The Pineapple Fund, a philanthropic venture announced earlier this month, has made a $1 million donation to The Internet Archive, a group that stores cached versions of websites for historical purposes.

“I saw the promise of decentralized money and decided to mine/buy/trade some magical internet tokens. …Donating most of it to charity is what I’m doing,” the Pineapple Fund’s anonymous founder said in a statement provided by The Internet Archive.

All told, the Pineapple Fund has pledged to donate $86 million worth of Bitcoin to a number of causes. The founder says he was an early adopter of the digital currency and held onto the coins until now. Other charities that have benefited from the organization include healthcare outsourcing platform Watsi; The Water Project; the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital-rights activism group; MAPS, an organization that studies therapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs and marijuana; the medical nonprofit SENS Research Foundation; and charity: water. Each of those groups also received $1 million.

Philanthropic contributions aside, Bitcoin is having a bit of a bad time these days. After strapping itself to a rocket booster and seeing its price top $19,000 earlier this month, the cryptocurrency was trading back in the low $15,000 range as of mid-day Wednesday.

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