Cape Cod's Largest Hospital Gets Bitcoin Donations Worth $800K

One of Cape Cod’s largest hospitals received two bitcoin donations this year totaling $800,000 in value. The Massachusetts-based not-for-profit medical centre (NPO), Cape Cod Healthcare, explained that an anonymous donor donated $400k last Friday and the NPO received a $400k bitcoin donation last month as well.

Cape Cod Healthcare Gets $800K in Bitcoin Donations

The hospital Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) is considered one of the leading providers of healthcare services in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This week, the NPO told the Boston Globe staff member Anissa Gardizy that it received two bitcoin (BTC) donations worth $800,000.

CCHC’s senior vice president and chief development officer, Christopher Lawson, said the donor wished to remain anonymous and sent an email last month asking the hospital to accept BTC donations. Lawson said the donor had helped CCHC before the two crypto donations, and had just recently asked if the hospital would accept his BTC gift.

Lawson told Gardizy that before accepting the donation, the administration had to see if the hospital could deal with transactions sent in cryptocurrency.

“Before we responded, Lawson said. “We had to make sure there were not any issues. It required a good amount of research,” he added. “My office probably spent a week or two doing our best to learn who else was doing this.”

After getting approval from CCHC’s finance department and the hospital’s CEO Mike Lauf, the firm launched a donation address. Lawson said that because the donor gave the $800k worth of bitcoins to the hospital, he will be free from paying taxes on the funds.

“It makes it an asset that is attractive to donate,” Lawson stressed. “You get maximum impact on the value, and any gains you get, much like stock, you don’t pay the tax,” the hospital administrator added. Lawson did detail, however, that the CCHC finance team immediately converts the donations to dollars.

Mainstream Acceptance

The first $400k donation was sent on January 28, 2021, and the following month on February 19, the donor sent another $400k worth of bitcoins. CCHC’s senior vice president said that other NPOs could also set up bitcoin donation support in order to accept the crypto asset.

“I’m really excited. We are coming out of a period during COVID when donations were hard to come by for a lot of folks,” Lawson emphasized. “This lets people know that we have the capability of accepting these cryptocurrencies in donation, and we have the infrastructure in place.” Back in May, Cape Cod Healthcare furloughed more than 600 employees.

“It is not widespread but it is becoming more mainstream,” Lawson concluded. “People are accumulating these assets, and they are looking at opportunities to donate them,” he added.