Progressive group adopts Bitcoin as ING and PayPal block donations

Published at: Feb. 2, 2022

Progressive International, a global organization supporting progressive left-wing activists and organizers, is moving into cryptocurrencies in response to getting de-banked by major payment and banking firms.

The organization took to Twitter on Monday to announce that it now accepts donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in order to defend itself against attempts to shut them out of the global financial system.

Last week, several companies blocked donations to the @progintl campaign of solidarity with Cuba and its ambitions to help vaccinate the world.To defend against attempts to shut us out of the global financial system, we now accept donations in crypto. Our addresses are below. pic.twitter.com/YbIwV68M5L

— Progressive International (@ProgIntl) January 31, 2022

A spokesperson for Progressive International told Cointelegraph that Dutch ING Bank and payment giant PayPal blocked donations to the organization as well as their campaign of solidarity with Cuba to help vaccinate people against COVID-19. Per the representative, ING and PayPal were “acting in support of the United States embargo.”

The vaccination campaign, which was announced last month, aimed to spotlight the Cuban government's progress with developing vaccines for COVID-19 and host a panel of experts to showcase their efforts.

“Progressive International relies on small donations from the public to fund our work,” the representative noted, adding:

“As a defence against attempts to shut us out of the international financial system, we are now also accepting donations in cryptocurrencies as well as fiat currencies. We are grateful for the donations we have received in cryptocurrencies.”

The spokesperson went on to say that this is the first time that the organization enabled donations in crypto. “We plan to continue to accept donations in crypto to support our work, not limited to Cuba, and may expand into other currencies where appropriate,” the person said.

The representative said that the organization will be soon updating its website to include information about crypto donations.

At the time of writing, the BTC wallet address announced in Progressive International’s announcement on Twitter has collected a total of 0.008 BTC ($307), while the ETH one holds 0.715 ETH ($1,979).