Key Takeaways
- Crypto donations to charitable causes topped $1 billion in 2024, according to The Giving Block, a company that sells crypto donation tools to nonprofits.
- The average crypto donation was $10,978.28, which implies at least 91,089 separate gifts that year.
- On October 7, 2026, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake urged holders to plan a controlled move of their funds to fresh wallet addresses.
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the risk deserves attention but holders should not rush to move funds.
Crypto gifts to charities topped $1 billion in 2024, according to The Giving Block. On October 7, 2026, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake told the blockchain industry to plan for a controlled migration of holdings, arguing that AI-driven mathematics could break the signatures that protect wallets. A fresh address is one that has never signed a transaction.
Drake pointed to a batch of 722 results that OpenAI published the day before, according to Decrypt. He wrote on X: "Today I call upon the blockchain industry to calmly begin planning for 'bunker mode,'" His plan is a controlled move of assets to fresh addresses, with large and sophisticated holders moving first.
What the 2024 crypto giving records show
The Giving Block's 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy says more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency was donated to charitable causes in 2024. The report also says 70 percent of Forbes' Top 100 Charities accept crypto donations, a 25 percent increase from the year before. The average crypto donation rose to $10,978.28, a 386.33 percent increase from 2023.
- Average crypto gift in 2024: $10,978.28, according to the report.
- Implied number of gifts: $1,000,000,000 divided by $10,978.28 is 91,088.95. Because the report says the total is more than $1 billion, the count is at least 91,089.
The report comes from a company that sells crypto donation services. It does not say how much of the $1 billion still sits in donation wallets, or how many of those wallets have sent funds since.
Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder, has taken a different view of the same risk. In September he wrote: "If AI can prove Navier-Stokes and FLT, then AI can prove the statement 'this program is secure' as a mathematical theorem," arguing that AI could help verify software. In reply to Justin Drake's October 7 post, he said the risk should be taken seriously and that holders should not rush to move funds, according to AI Weekly.
Earlier coverage set the timeline. After a Google paper suggested quantum computers could break crypto's cryptography sooner than expected, Drake put the odds of a quantum break by 2032 at 10 percent or more, Decrypt reported. WYDE's April report on Google's estimate covers the paper itself.
Why donation wallets fall under the migration advice
Drake's plan targets addresses that have never signed a transaction, because their public keys stay hidden behind a hash. Once an address signs, its public key appears on-chain. A charity that accepts crypto and later pays out from the same address has therefore exposed the key that Drake wants protected. The same logic applies to donors who send crypto from their own wallets. The public record does not show how many receiving addresses have already signed, That count would show how much of the $1 billion sits behind keys that are already exposed.
People Also Ask
What is bunker mode in crypto?
Bunker mode is Justin Drake's name for a planned, controlled move of crypto holdings to fresh addresses. Drake, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, called on the industry to start planning for it on October 7, 2026.
How much crypto did charities receive in 2024?
The Giving Block reports more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency donated to charitable causes in 2024. The average crypto donation that year was $10,978.28, according to the same report.
Why would a crypto wallet need to migrate?
Drake argues that AI-driven mathematics could break ECDSA, the signature math that Ethereum and Bitcoin wallets use, before quantum computers can. Addresses that have never sent a transaction keep their public keys hidden, which is why he recommends moving funds to them.
Sources: The Giving Block, 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy, NonProfit PRO, Decrypt on Justin Drake, Decrypt on Vitalik Buterin, and AI Weekly, which reprints Cointelegraph.