Bitcoin Forum

Tonga is now accepting Bitcoin donations to help with relief as the country faces a tsunami. As many of us know that on Friday, Tonga experienced a huge volcanic eruption. More explosions happened after the first, departing the citizens of Tongatapu (the main island of Tonga) to face down a tsunami. Tsunami waves are about 4 feet high, covering streets and properties, people are now running to higher lands.
Lord Fusitu’a(Parliament House of Tonga) reported with a Bitcoin address, where people can donate to help the relief processes.

BTC Address: bc1qmn6ddugyj853vgmcvljs5te6rl9teuhz6t5cun
Blockchain Explorer: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qmn6ddugyj853vgmcvljs5te6rl9teuhz6t5cun
https://i.imgur.com/7E1bAOb.png
https://twitter.com/LordFusitua/status/1482712419507998721?s=20


Note: It's not any donation post, It's just news to remainder that a Parliament opens an address to receive funds for donations. Resource: https://cointelegraph.com/news/tonga-accepts-bitcoin-donations-amid-tsunami-onslaught

I will advice that you should not promote posts from unverified handles on social media as there are huge chances that it could be a scam, also you should post it along with the link to the original tweet as screenshots can also be edited.

I won't say that's legit or not, but I can tell that the capture comes from this tweet: https://twitter.com/onair_blair/status/1482681573333999617
Maybe somebody can check whether it's OK or hacked/impersonated.

(Also, wasn't twitter blocking bitcoin addresses in tweets? When did that change?)

This is what I was thinking when I read the post. We don't know the legitimacy of the account. If he is giving an official link of the Tonga site, for donations, that would be more believable. So if you want to donate, verify the address first or search the charitable organizations that are really doing this job.

@OP, would be better to post Tonga official site links and their donation's address. I don't know if you verify the posted address here.

Updated with the resource. The screenshot was contain a reply from Lord Fusitu'a. However, the resource has all information and I also drop the link of the Twitter reply. Thanks for catching up on the errors, because of it relates to donation :D
Maybe, it's a verified account. Twitter may give some special features for being a parliament's account.

strange thing is:

tonga's internet line is disconnected, they have no internet for 2 weeks

In the world of bitcoins, it's hard to believe someone as people use this platform to trap people and scam them. You should always post the source link, but the profile looks verified, so it seems that the news is accurate and not fake. Anyways if the information is trustworthy, it's another step for the growth of bitcoins.
More people may know about it and take an interest, resulting in a bitcoin increase. Still, on the other side, I've little doubt, as far as I know, Twitter never allowed anyone to post a bitcoin address plus, why did he choose Twitter no other social media ?. Can he use the official website of Tonga?

Interesting! With that being the case, how then could they be so active on twitter amid a company scouting for some resource to tackle a forthcoming disaster. I think the right thing would have been having all there media's working and being down for 2weeks raise a red flag.

Besides, the responses and comments on the tweet has not been very encourage able so far for a verified twitter handle. It's been 24 hours already and so far, just a handful of comments, retweets and likes. It's too poor and suspicious to be the same people, trying to make things look legit. I can't say though.

 :o

man this is very strange, today I saw this:

cointelegraph.com

Tonga accepts Bitcoin donations amid tsunami onslaught (https://cointelegraph.com/news/tonga-accepts-bitcoin-donations-amid-tsunami-onslaught)

what's happening? Could it be that these guys from cointelegraph.com believed and published a lie?

all im saying is tonga has no internet. so anyone actually in tonga wont get any bitcoin for 2 weeks.
im guessing the ex-member of parliament is not actually in tonga, if he is able to tweet and get crypto.

if the scenario was say
US. new orleans had a tsunami, and there was no road access for 2 weeks. and an ex-congressman of N'O' was accepting donations of bottled water.. i too would respond, "but no one can get bottled water into N'O' for two weeks, and it appears the ex-congressman is no where near N'O'"

..
its the little details that amuse me.
while pleading for donations. the ex-member of parliament then goes on a new business plan advert about the country spending masses of money on power stations for crypto industry..
..usually at a time of disaster the first topic to discuss is how to get power, water, utilities and shelters fixed.
.. usually if someone has a communication method in and out of a disaster zone, they would report more about the disaster

im not saying the donations are a lie.
its just a bit of an oddity/amusement to the whole narrative going along side the donation plea.

he seems to have the ability to retweet all the donation stuff and crypto projects of the future. but seems a little lacking on tweeting any important messages of whats actually happening in tonga

So it seems that Twitter's BTC address shadow-ban is done for good, then.


That tweet is from a verified handle.

However, you can probably expect various low-life "scummers" to impersonate the Tonga government and give users a fake BTC address for donating towards getting them Gucci's or something. You won't believe how many of them are actually broke  ::)


If they did, it wouldn't be the first time for them (more like 100th time by now).

Supporting this , as I am considering sending small amount as donation for the victims but since this is not a verified wallet I'm afraid that i will consider this for now.

Maybe I will wait for a verified wallet address so i can directly send my donation since I am far from that country but I know how they are suffering now from that Tsunami .


This is another Point to consider .

I've checked the official Twitter account of Fusitu'a and he retweets those people that have donated them. He also posted about a scammer posing as him.
The address has already received around 0.026 BTC or an estimated $11k. I understand that it could potentially be hacked by someone just like what happened with those verified handles that have asked for investment and return and used those Twitter accounts of Trump and the other celebs.

Link if the Twitter account looks verified but we are not sure if it's not hacked and someone just posted thier own BTC address. If there is no Internet access on the island then there is no way they can cash out the donations.

The tsunami must have wiped the agricultural crops on the island. It's times like this that a country unit probably decides to fix their internet and really get into BTC as legal tender.

That's lots of money right there, let's just hope that it will reach the victims somehow and woe to the scammers if still, they take advantage of the horrifying event to steal money from the donators. When it comes to Twitter posts and it says about bitcoins, there is a high tendency that it's not from the actual person itself. It's best to donate to the known foundations if we want to help them because there are lots of doubts when it comes to tweets nowadays.

The tsunami in Tonga caused the internet and telephones to die. Until now, Tonga has not reached cellphone and internet signals after the tsunami, maybe not all places are like that, maybe there is also a point where the internet is still alive and the electricity is still on, but the question is whether the government is right Tonga accepts bitcoin assistance, because I myself have tried to find out about all of it, but no one has given a definite answer, in fact almost all the media that I read do not touch about accepting bitcoin assistance..

so meaning the post is legit and the wallet is literally from the government?


This is a good way of luring donator because Tonga is really in a verge of hardness now and they need all ways on how they can earn help from all part of the world

and this is what the trend now, know your receiver and you will be safe and hoping they will gather enough help from the worldwide community and msot specially bitcoin users.

right now, tonga needs physical support, via boats with supplies.
tonga wont get any bitcoin for weeks. especially with the ex-MP being in New Zealand, not tonga

i hope the ex-MP cashes out daily and pays to rent some boats with supplies onboard to get from NZ to tonga to actually help.

what i have seen though is the ex-MP has been online to retweet donations with thanks. to also then tweet that he enjoys AI, blockchains.. and to also tweet that after the tsunami he was visiting a NFT project..
(weird priorities to have right now)

but it would have been great to see him ask for any NZ or other nearer island boatsman, if they can volunteer their time and boat fuel to get to tonga and actually help

This is the faster way to collect funds knowing they can collect money from donators around the world for announcing this on their channels, Hopefully the funds collected will be used correctly according on what they stated since this one could be exploit if the receiver of the funds is a corrupt official so hopefully by using bitcoin they can get good response as well bitcoin will get a good impression towards people who doesn't know about it.

This statement must be corrected. This donation isn't made by the government of Tonga, but it is created by Lord Fusitu'a. So, Tonga isn't accepting Bitcoin for Donation, but Lord Fusitu'a (@LordFusitua) accepts Bitcoin donations to deliver for tsunami disasters in Tonga.

If you think this is not a donation post, why do you write the BTC address on your thread?
Just share the information with your own explanation without enclosing the detail like BTC address.

an ex-member of parliament...(translate: resigned congressman) not the tonga prime minister(translate president)
the ex-member of parliament did announce a donation address.
the ex-member of parliament did is currently in new zealand not toga

the twitter account is verified as belonging to the true the ex-member of parliament.

but that is all that has been evaluated.
the official tonga government has not announced their own tonga government address.
and tonga right now wont have any internet for a couple weeks, so they cant.

..
i personally would like to see the ex-member of parliament, stop just thanking people for donations. stop making tweets about AI and visiting NFT projects after the disaster, and instead make tweets showing him organising some physical actions to help tonga right now.

..
to note. the first relief package tonga is getting is in the form of:
a supply plane(should arrive on wednesday)
2 navel ships (should arrive on thursday)
all of which are are paid from NZ government relief package in $$.. not paid using ex-tonga mp's donation funds..

In times of disaster, donations in whatever form should be welcome. It is good to hear that Bitcoin has become a tool for this humanitarian initiative. Whether or not it is only a personal initiative of the former member of the parliament should not be made as a big issue. In times of dire need, everybody, especially those who have the influence, should find ways to gather support. And this Twitter account has a blue badge which means that the account indeed belongs to Lord Fusitu'a.

The only man on the whole island who has anything to do with Bitcoin, including all the rumors that Tonga will recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender. I don't see anything wrong with making donations to BTC, but everyone should know that this man does not represent the official government.

We can only hope that the money can be distributed to the right person who suffers from a tsunami because we do not know the person who accepts the donation. We are hard to verify that the person will be responsible for the money. In this situation, it is easy for people who have the intention to scam others by collecting donations from other people in the name of charity. So we need to be careful with that. We can not say that he is legit or a scam because we do not know for sure and we can only hope that is right.

True, and this goes for every single politician, ex or present. How does a national disaster requiring urgent assistance become a platform of fame for these retired people I never understand.

The only crypto giving thing that I know ever made sense and supported was Giving Block.

As already said, it's a bit odd that haven't had internet for a few weeks, making it impossible to use Bitcoin and the donations. I also read that the address and it's holder isn't related to Tonga's government. Even if it is still exchanged in some other way and used for the cause I would research more before donating.
Either way it's nice seeing acceptance for Bitcoin, but I mostly see it once something bad like this situation happens since donations are good in any shape.

It could be but also be mindful that the account could've been hacked too. As said, they have cut their internet lines and likely they don't have internet connection due to the tsunami and it might take a week or two for the restoration.
But it could also be true and it's the real guy but I'm hoping that it's the actual guy and those funds we're going to be used for the good of those affected people there.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with it, I just make a suggestion to revise the title to avoid misunderstanding among people. I am worried people think it is an official donation request in BTC made by the Tonga government. I mean Lord Fusitu'a isn't a representative of the Tonga government, he is only a volunteer. Sure, nothing wrong with Lord Fusitu'a, he did a good thing by holding this donation. My purpose is to make people know who creates the donation request. I think you understand what I mean.  :)

Scammers and hackers are always looking for opportunities like this to take advantage of. I believe there should be more media coverage about this by the government responsible to make it more authentic that the Twitter message is genuine and what the right bitcoin address is else, it could turn out to be another celebrity/politician twitter hack to rip people off.

It's good that Bitcoin is accepted, but I would be suspicious. First, it's just one Tonga official, so who's to say he's not accepting donations for his new mansion rather than actually for combatting the disaster? Second, Twitter accounts are often hacked, so where's proof that this one wasn't, and it's not scammers calling for donations? Such things should be done officially, with a designated wallet that some people will be accountable for when they spend the money. Otherwise, it looks just like a private initiative of a politician. They received $20k, which is quite significant. I really hope this money will be spent on helping people who suffered the most from the eruption.

This is a great lesson for many countries that are not yet taking into account the development of BTC and the ease of moving money from one place to another, if this is not taken advantage of by countries to make BTC a legal tender like "El Salvador" does it, I think it will be more difficult to introduce it politically and with regulations, as many are doing, I think Tonga is a prime candidate to become a country that accepts BTC in its economic ranks, I think that the third world countries would be the ideal lifeline, the best thing about this news is that I know that the demand for BTC will increase.

Doesn't that tweet say that this aid also accepts BTC via LN? I rarely come across scammers using LN, what I understand it can be identified at which node the transaction connects first. cmiiw.

Looks like they'll get it. Elonmusk offers internet access solutions with starlink terminals. I don't know if it will be realized as soon as possible. ~source (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/21/elon-musk-starlink-internet-tonga-volcano)

Small countries always tend to grow further, but in my view it needs to develop its infrastructure through all possible sources. Very few country are strong in its economic growth, whereas the majority small countries are in its path to push themselves high. By the time making bitcoin a legal tender is good, but something like the ongoing crash will truly make a big impact over the country's situation. So, it should always have a backup plan as alternate to the bitcoin acceptance.

This kind of news should be an eye-opener to other countries that in this type of calamities or natural phenomenon when there is no any other way to send help or donations easily bitcoin and cryptocurrency are just a one step away for them so that people who has this assets that would like to send help could easily send their help. I know cryptocurrency especially bitcoin are still struggling to be part of the economy but through this kind of helping initiatives crypto will be discover on how effectively this asset can be a great help to everyone.

any updates of  what is the donation from crypto community running now? i mean is there any chance that we could check the standing balance of the donations?

anyway this is what the best thing about crypto , we can donate in any part of the world being anonymous .

I believe that Pandemic already thought of dealing with crypto as they are now seeing the advantage and the help to their economy .

he says its a hard thing to do right now as he doesnt have enough laser based satellites. so wants an official plea so that he can concentrate on diverting allocated satellites to be deployed for tonga, thus delaying other purposes. so he wants to ensure that they need it rather than want it. as its not going to be an overnight fix. (the undersea cable could be fixed by the time elon gets the kit to them). so he wants to be sure its a immediate but also long term need. rather than a temporary "want"/need.

you quoted the link to check
its 0.5btc from 374 donations. (~$18k total)

so far Lord F' has not spent a penny of it.

mean while neighbouring governments have put aside $3m in fiat to get aid to tonga, and the NZ gov ships and planes have already got there days ago.

i can understand some people loving the hype of 'bitcoin' being mentioned along side the viral messages of a disaster. but the actual donations this week are not actually being spent on the disaster. so far only fiat is actually helping with the disaster

This is the great news to accept bitcoin. It's an official donation request in BTC made by the Tonga government. Bitcoin is most valuable coin in crypto market and people loving in bitcoin hype.A little countries are Strong in economic.