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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin donates $15 million to University of California, supporting virus research.

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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin donates $15 million to University of California, supporting virus research.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's foundation, the "Balvi Filantropic Fund," has donated $15 million USDC to the University of California, San Diego for research on airborne pathogens.

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According to a press release from the University of California, San Diego, the university will use this funding to establish The Airborne Institute, focusing on research related to infectious aerosols, including diseases such as allergies, asthma, COVID-19, that may be spread through infectious aerosols.

The university states that this is the largest single donation for research on infectious aerosols to date. The USDC donation has been fully converted to US dollars through the cryptocurrency donation service provider and non-profit organization, Engiven.

Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla stated:

This generous and visionary gift will enable top scientists and researchers to collaborate across disciplines to better understand diseases and pollutants spread through the air, further improving global health.

Vitalik remarked:

In recent years, there has been a growing need for more open-source scientific research to further understand pathogens and pollutants transmitted through the air, and I am delighted to support the establishment of the new research institute at the University of California, San Diego, which will focus on scientific knowledge related to airborne pathogens for the benefit of all humanity.

Since Vitalik established the Balvi Foundation on January 28, 2022, there have been multiple donations. According to their multi-signature address, the first donation round was initiated on May 5 last year, with over $6.5 million donated to several COVID-19 research units, and a $15 million donation to the Long Covid Research Initiative in September of the same year.