Malta Community Chest Fund takes on Binance over €7m crypto pledge

The Malta Community Chest Fund has headed to court in an attempt to secure cryptocurrency donation pledges made during the 2018 Istrina broadcast.

The pledge, originally worth €170,000, was part of a campaign led by the Malta-based charity, the Blockchain Charity Foundation. Today, due to vast cryptocurrency price swings, the pledge is estimated to be valued at €7 million.

Binance set up the foundation at the peak of the government-led campaign to establish Malta as a ‘Blockchain Island’. The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange however never acquired a license to operate in Malta and has since sought to dissolve the charity. As a result, Binance stands accused of attempting to terminate the donation agreement.

The Malta Community Chest Fund claims that numerous attempts were made to obtain the funds to no avail. The President’s charity has also filed an injunction to prevent Binance from liquidating its foundation and moving its assets to the US, where the Maltese courts have no jurisdiction. In response, the legal representatives of the Binance Foundation have argued that the Community Chest Fund’s role was solely to facilitate the transfer of funds directly to the cancer patients as per the donation plan. They also stated that they were removing the Malta-based foundation as they set up an identical foundation in the US and they wanted to avoid additional administrative costs.

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