Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has launched a stablecoin donation campaign supporting the Disaster Relief Fund established by Nepal's Prime Minister, giving donors worldwide a direct on-chain route to contribute to the government's recovery effort following an August 26 glacier collapse that killed more than 1,250 people.

Nailwal announced the initiative in an X post on September 4, describing stablecoins as the best tool when aid must be disbursed quickly. The choice is notable because Nepal's banking rails have historically constrained international transfers — the country is among the world's largest recipients of remittances, which account for roughly a quarter of its GDP, and cross-border payments through traditional channels can take days and carry fees that crypto transfers are designed to avoid. At the time of writing, the campaign website, nepalrelief.org, had raised a total of $168,176.

How the money gets to Kathmandu

Donations will not be deposited directly into a government wallet. Instead, funds are received on-chain and converted to USDC before being pooled at a public relief wallet on Ethereum or Polygon. The pooled assets will then be transferred to Nepal's official government fund as the final step.

Scott DeLisi will lead Engage Nepal, the organization responsible for collecting and accounting for the funds. Engage Nepal is a US-registered 501(c)(3), and DeLisi is a former US Ambassador to Nepal — a structure that gives US donors a tax-recognized conduit while the on-chain pooling layer keeps every contribution publicly auditable.

Polygon is not alone in the initiative. Open Money Stack will handle bridging, routing, and conversion, while Cross River Bank powers verified user donations and converts them to fiat for direct transfer to the Nepal Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. Coinme will provide payment infrastructure and crypto cash. The campaign has also received a $100,000 pledge from Blockchain For Impact.

There are two ways to contribute. Donors can give anonymously with any token on any chain, or US-based donors can use Cross River Bank so the donation is recorded next to their name. Those who prefer to avoid the website interface can send funds to the single USDC address published on the site, which works on both Ethereum and Polygon.

What the flood destroyed

The full extent of the destruction is still being tallied. On August 26, a glacier above the Trishuli River gave way, sending ice, mud, and rock roughly 80 kilometers down the valley through Nuwakot, Dhading, and Rasuwa.

Seven districts have been affected, with 41 bridges destroyed, 42 kilometers of road severely damaged, and six hydropower plants lost. The loss of hydropower capacity is significant for Nepal, which generates the bulk of its electricity from hydroelectric plants, meaning the disaster struck both physical infrastructure and a core pillar of the national economy.

The United Nations estimates an even higher casualty toll. A UN statement on September 4, 2026 said the glacier collapse blocked the Nepal-Tibet border, killing more than 1,250 people, with thousands still missing. The UN puts the number of affected people at 84,270, or 19,284 households, and aims to raise $49.6 million in cash to support them — a target against which the campaign's current $168,176 represents a small fraction.

Other crypto responses to the disaster

Nailwal's fund is not the crypto sector's first commitment to the Nepal disaster. Ripple pledged $300,000 to assist relief groups in the region, without specifying whether it would pay in XRP, fiat, or its RLUSD stablecoin.

The Solana Foundation and NFT marketplace Mallow auctioned nine advertising slots and raised $166,946.50 in USDC. Mallow routed the proceeds to Engage Nepal for delivery into the same government fund.

Crypto-based disaster giving is not new. Crypto donations surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2024 and became a go-to method for emergency aid after the earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand in March 2025. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao also donated 1,000 BNB, roughly $600,000, to relief efforts in Myanmar and Thailand. Blockchain has many supporters because of its reputation as a faster alternative when banking infrastructure fails.

Nailwal has not yet released a schedule for converting the pooled crypto, nor indicated when each batch will arrive in the government fund. The final step remains dependent on conversion services and conventional banks. Every deposit, conversion, and outgoing batch, however, will be verifiable on-chain — a transparency feature that distinguishes this campaign from conventional charitable drives, where donors typically rely on periodic disclosures rather than a real-time public ledger.