Binance Charity is donating $650,000 in USDT token vouchers to users affected by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia on August 10, killing hundreds of people and damaging thousands of buildings. The exchange's charitable arm is also waiving fees on peer-to-peer transactions in Colombian pesos through August 18 at 23:59 (UTC-3).
Eligible users will each receive 20 USDT in token vouchers, with distribution tied to proof-of-address and know-your-customer verification completed before August 11 in the hardest-hit zones: Valle del Cauca (Cali), Risaralda (Pereira), Caldas (Manizales) and Chocó (Quibdó). Binance has also opened an extended verification window, running from August 11 through August 25, for existing users in those regions who hadn't yet completed KYC requirements. Full eligibility details are listed in Binance Charity's announcement.
A recurring role in disaster response
The Colombia relief effort follows a pattern Binance Charity has used in prior disasters, pairing direct token distributions with temporary fee relief on its peer-to-peer marketplace, which many users in Latin America rely on to convert between pesos and stablecoins. The nonprofit has run comparable disaster-relief campaigns elsewhere in the region, including a $3 million commitment to earthquake victims in Venezuela.
For the affected communities, the P2P fee waiver may prove as practical as the direct payouts. In markets where banking access is inconsistent after a disaster and merchants may be reluctant to accept damaged currency, stablecoin transfers routed through P2P platforms have increasingly served as an informal channel for aid disbursement — a use case Binance's regional charity arm has leaned on repeatedly since 2023.
Binance has not disclosed how many users are expected to qualify for the voucher program, though the four named zones cover several of Colombia's more densely populated western departments. The fee waiver applies broadly to COP-denominated P2P trades rather than only to verified earthquake-relief recipients, extending the relief to a wider set of users transacting in the affected currency during the response window.
