Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum (ETH) co-founder, has recently donated USDC$4M to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. This funding hopes to prevent global pandemics using UNSW’s open-source artificial intelligence (AI) tool that will offer alerts for pandemic early warning signs. This donation was funded by Buterin’s Balvi Filantropic Fund.
The crypto gift is expected to support the development of EPIWATCH. That is an open-source intelligence (OSINT) tool, which was developed by Professor Raina MacIntyre. The tool operates by scanning millions of publicly available online items, like social media platforms and breaking news stories, seeking early signs of an epidemic.
It detects changes to ‘normal’ reports about health worries. That is much quicker than waiting for information to come from doctors and laboratories. These early warnings can be then formally investigated by health authorities.
Prof. MacIntyre explained:
“Imagine if someone had detected COVID-19 before it spread around the world – that is our vision. Using AI and real-time open-source data, EPIWATCH does not depend on people making reports. It is a great equalizer and can overcome weak health systems and censorship. To be most effective, it needs to be accessible in local languages and used widely at the grassroots level down to villages and small towns around the world. This will give us the best prospect of preventing pandemics.”
Vitalik Buterin And Crypto Donations
Vitalik Buterin stated:
Buy Crypto Now“The earlier we can detect new epidemics as they come, the more quickly we can start developing treatments or even stop them before they become large. Open analysis of public data is an excellent alternative to more intrusive forms of monitoring, which are also often only available to governments and other high bidders but closed to the public.
By contrast, an open-source and open-access approach that allows researchers, including members of the public, to work collaboratively across the world and can be more easily improved and scaled to detect new pandemics wherever they begin.”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has gifted USDC$4M to assist in efforts of preventing future global pandemics.
The donation from the Balvi Filantropic Fund is UNSW’s first cryptocurrency gift. It is also believed to be the biggest crypto gift sent to an Australian higher education institution.
Vitalik Buterin is known for his generous philanthropic contributions. He has previously donated to the India Crypto Relief Fund to enhance the COVID response operations in India. He has also supported Ukrainian relief and other causes.
