Coinbase CEO and Others Donate Nearly $2.5M to Fight Aging

Brian Armstrong, CEO of popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has disclosed that he and other crypto enthusiasts have made significant donations toward research to prolong life.

Armstrong, who made this known in a Twitter post today, said they all made an undisclosed amount of donation to the $2.5 million longevity research project in dogs launched by Matt Kaeberlein, a co-director at Dog Aging Project.

At the moment, the research team is focused on dogs as a breakthrough in the species could mean the feat can be successfully replicated in humans since dogs share the human environment, Armstrong said.

It is worth noting that the Coinbase CEO did not disclose whether his donation was made in cryptocurrency or fiat.

While the post was made to inform his over 828,000 followers about the ongoing project, the crypto mogul also used the opportunity to seek more funding, since the project still requires an additional $200,000 to reach the $2.5 million requirement.

“I made a donation along with a number of others from the crypto community and we are close to hitting the $2.5m. But they need to raise the final $200k,” excerpt of his tweet reads.

In response to Armstrong’s calls, Peter Xing, co-founder of Transhuman Coin, a crypto initiative focused on funding research and development to solve disabilities and various diseases, said the company will be donating to the longevity project as he hopes to:

“Make the aging process a treatable disease in our lifetimes and for future generations to come.”

The Dog Aging Project Initiative

The initiative was originally funded through a grant from the National Institute on Aging, making it possible for the Dog Aging Project to enroll 350 dogs into the program.

The company is seeking to increase the number of dogs it would be studying and has requested for funds from interested individuals.

Once the $2.5 million funding is complete, it would help the research institute increase the number of dogs it is currently researching from 350 to 580.

The research will focus on the Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs (TRIAD), to discover whether the Rapamycin drug can slow aging and increase lifespan in middle-aged companion dogs by 9%.

Vitalik Donates Too

Meanwhile, Armstrong, who recently called out the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for refusing Coinbase’s crypto loan initiative from launch, is not the first popular cryptocurrency enthusiast to donate to longevity research in different species.

Back in 2018, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum donated $2.4 million worth of Ethereum to The SENS Research Foundation, a charity organization focused on treating age-related disease and extending people’s biological ages.

Earlier this year, Buterin also made a similar donation worth $2million in ether to Methuselah Foundation, a non-profit poised to reduce aging in humans and the parent organization of the SENS Research Foundation.