Ashton Kutcher surprises Ellen DeGeneres with £3m donation to endangered animal fund

Actor and investor Ashton Kutcher surprised Ellen DeGeneres' by going on her show and donating £3m to her endangered animal fund.

The 40-year-old appeared as a mystery guest on the show on Wednesday, discussing his recent investment in a money transfer app called Ripple - a service that allows people around the world transfer cryptocurrency without having to wait for banks' approval.

The talk show host seemed perplexed as to why Kutcher was surprising her on the show just to tell her that.

Kutcher further explained that Ripple was looking for "community warriors" who were trying to enact positive change in the world and that DeGeneres was the perfect fit.

"I told them that there's this amazing human being, and all they ever do is think about other people they can give to," Kutcher said. "Whether it's in New Orleans, whether it's in Montecito, whether it's the people that come here, the people out there, you're always thinking about everyone else, and we wanted to show you that people are thinking about you."

It was then that he revealed he would be donating £3m to The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund - a charitable organisation started by DeGeneres' wife Portia de Rossi for her 60th birthday to raise awareness for endangered animals.

Upon receiving Kutcher's gift, DeGeneres was shocked and overcome with tears.

"Now, usually people come out with a big giant check and do the ‘big giant check thing’, but we can transfer it into Rwandan Francs right now right here, and all you need to do is push this button," he said.

Kutcher revealed that the idea for a donation had arisen during a recent investment meeting.

He explained that Ripple cares "about being an ethical company and giving a portion of this platform away to people that are doing good in the world."

The company has donated tens of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency to non-profit organisations during the past few months.

​Ripple was recently seen on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert after they donated £21m to pay for all 35,000 classroom projects on educational crowdfunding website DonorsChoose.

The donation was the largest the website had ever received.