How the World's First Bitcoin Charity Is Harnessing the Cryptocurrency to Change Lives (VIDEO)

To the uninformed, Bitcoin can conjure notions of hard drugs, assassins-for-hire and other illicit services being transacted across the Deep Web. But The BitGive Foundation, which describes itself as the world’s first Bitcoin nonprofit, turns this stereotype directly on its head.

The organization partners with nonprofits like Save The Children and The Water Project, explains founder and executive director, Connie Gallippi, and harnesses Bitcoin’s benefits -- namely cheaper, faster and more secure transactions -- in order to raise charitable funds.

In March, BitGive unveiled a water well at a girls’ school in Western Kenya funded entirely with $11,000 in Bitcoin donations culled from members of the Bitcoin community. The well serves 500 Kenyans who wouldn’t otherwise have access to water, says Gallippi, who spoke to Entrepreneur at this year’s Inside Bitcoins conference in New York City. “It has made a huge impact.”

For more from Gallippi about the altruistic prospects of the cryptocurrency, check out this short video.