Paws and Crypto: The $1 Million Dogecoin Donation to Help Dogs in Need

The crypto markets can be rough, as in RUFF, but today Dogecoin is proving it has real world utility.

Now House of Doge, Moe, and the Dogecoin Foundation are teaming up with the AKC Humane Fund, a charitable affiliate of the American Kennel Club, kicking off a major campaign with a $1 million Dogecoin donation to support dogs in need, and this is about more than just one check.

Moon Pay Commerce is enabling Dogecoin and other crypto as a payment option for donations, funding everything from rescue efforts to veterinary care and domestic violence shelter pet assistance.

Well joining me now to discuss.

This partnership puts real pauses on the ground for digital asset adoption is Keith Grossman, President of MoonPay.

Keith, good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

So this campaign kicking off with a 1 million Dogecoin donation.

So tell me about the actual genesis of this fundraiser.

Who actually barked first?

Who barked first.

I love that, Remy.

Um, we, look, you know, it's been our mission to try and, and make, um, crypto relatable to a lot of people.

And, um, when we initially did the, uh, campaign for crypto for good for New York hairs, um, I was approached during the holiday season by, um, uh, my wife's, uh, uncle, uh, who is, uh, you know, part of the AKC, and he said, How did you do this?

How did you actually get this done?

And, um, and I walked him through it and he said, could you ever do this for dogs?

And, um, and I thought about it, and I spoke to an individual internally, and I said, you know who would be an amazing partner for this?

It would be the Doge Foundation, and we have a great relationship with them.

And I ended up talking to, um, the Doge Foundation.

It took one conversation to present this idea of how could we translate Moon Pay commerce to benefit the, um, uh, AKC and the Humane Fund.

And uh ultimately they jumped at it and everyone got on board and we spent the, you know, a better part of a few months just making sure that we could evolve the tech to be able to support Dogecoin, but we today could not be more thrilled to have this go live with the support of the Doge Foundation, um, to bring, you know, revenue to the AKC.

And many of us love dogs, myself included.

And so for viewers out there who might not be as familiar with Moon Pay, Moon Pay is handling the transactions, and typically nonprofits may shy away from massive volatility.

So how does Moon Pay's infrastructure actually remove enough friction to convert crypto traders into, say, regular repeat donors?

Sure.

So, you know, like, what we ultimately are is the membrane, right?

Uh, we're the membrane that allows, you know, the crypto community to enter into the, uh, fiat community or the fiat community to enter into the crypto community.

So, um, for nonprofits, whether it's the AKC or whether it's Your cares or others, um, you know, like those nonprofits ultimately may not want to hold their assets in crypto.

And for us, what we do as a services is we ultimately convert it into US dollars for them to be able to work with their traditional accounting firms. and as you mentioned, is known for helping consumers buy and sell crypto.

So how is expanding into philanthropy as well as commerce payments actually fit into your broader override strategy.

Sure.

So, uh, you know, what I like about the philanthropic angle is it's very relatable.

Um, you know, like when we did Um, uh, New York Care's crypto for good.

What we found was, um, people could wrap their head around, I have these assets here, and I want to put them to use, and I can ultimately give them to benefit students, um, at Title I schools.

In this instance, I have these assets.

I have, you know, an asset called Doge or other cryptocurrencies.

Um, uh, if you have Doge, you tend to probably love dogs way more already.

Um, and it's like, how can I put that to good use?

And I think that sometimes people, um, when they're given a path to see how something that they care about can be used for good, um, it helps, uh, tell the story of, you know, the modernization of value and the democratization of value in sort of today's society.

And so, like, I, I love this.

I love the idea of, um, taking this ecosystem that I care about and showing it to people in, like, everyday use cases.

And finally before I let you go, integrating new payment rails does require navigating strict compliance.

So right now what do you think are the biggest hurdles that are preventing major charities from broadly accepting digital assets.

So, so, I, I, I think that, um, it's misunderstood, um, by a lot of people still.

And hopefully, when they see things like this, it becomes easier, right?

Like, the AKC ultimately only came about because we did the New York Hare's crypto for good.

Hopefully, um, others see that, like, in The AKC going this route or New York Cares going this route, um, that others can easily adopt these technologies as well.

At the end of the day, it's really just one line of code, two lines of code.

It's really not that tough on the charity's end, and we take care of the rest for them.

Well Keith, we really appreciate your time.

Thank you so much for sharing this announcement with us this morning and as always, thank you so much for sharing all of your insights.