Solana Sells Nine Logo Zones for Nepal Flood Relief, Raising $166K in USDC

On September 1, Solana SOL$99.21-2.8% auctioned nine zones on its official X account profile picture for Nepal flood relief. The 24-hour window closed with $166,946 in USDC locked in across nine winning bids, all going to Nepal's Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund through Engage Nepal, a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The auction ran on Mallow SMORES$0.00255-53.4%'s platform at nepal.mallow.art.

The cause: a glacier above the Trishuli River gave way on August 26, near the Nepal-Tibet border, sending flash floods down the Trishuli and Bhotekoshi rivers through Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading districts. The collapse, on the Langtang-Lirung massif, registered as a 5.2-magnitude seismic event before geologists confirmed it originated from a landslide. At least 300 people were confirmed dead and more than 900 were reported missing as of August 27.

How the Mallow Logo Auction Worked

Bidders connected a wallet to nepal.mallow.art, picked one of nine labeled zones on the Solana diamond logo, and placed a USDC bid. The highest bid per zone at close won that slot; outbid amounts were automatically returned to the original wallet, so only the nine final winning bids constitute the charitable donation.

To prevent late positioning, any bid within the final two minutes of a zone's clock extended that zone's timer by two more minutes, a rule that could repeat until two minutes elapsed with no new bid on that zone. Zones could therefore close at different times from one another.

Mallow reported $159,000 raised with approximately 90 minutes remaining. End-phase bidding on several zones brought the total to its final figure.

Final Results: Rollbit Takes the Centre Spot at $50K

The largest single contribution, per the auction page, came from Rollbit: $50,000 for the Middle Centre zone, the most prominent position on the grid. The remaining eight zones sold for between $12,810 and $16,276:

Per the published terms, each winner's logo will appear on the official Solana X account PFP and its pinned post for one week. The official @solana announcement drew more than 660,000 views and 3,300 likes.

How Proceeds Reach Nepal's Government Fund

Per the auction's published terms, mallow will convert the USDC proceeds to USDC on Ethereum and transfer them to Engage Nepal for onward donation to the Government of Nepal's official Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund at pmdrf.nchl.com.np. Both the Solana Foundation and mallow committed to posting the donation transaction publicly once the auction closed.

Solana's account gave a mid-auction update at 04:01 UTC on September 2, reporting $150,000 raised with nine hours still remaining. Direct donations to Nepal's disaster relief can also be made at nepalrelief.org.

Onchain giving for disaster relief has a recent precedent in the Solana ecosystem: Marinade MNDE$0.020-0.2% and Solana Venezuela ran a yield-donation campaign for Venezuela earthquake victims in July, letting stakers donate yield without touching their principal.