Ukraine Uses $70M Crypto Funds for Defense Against Russia

Since the attacks on the country began later last month, Ukraine has received nearly $70M in cryptocurrency, reports SlowMist. Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, mentioned in a Twitter post on Friday that they had received over $50M in crypto. The country has reportedly spent most of this money on military supplies, including bulletproof vests.

The Crypto Fund of Ukraine raised $50M in crypto in a week to support #Ukraine 👊🏻 An incredible unity before Putin’s encroachment on freedom and democracy. Aiming for $100M this week. We WILL win! 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 4, 2022

Alex Bornyakov, The Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, stated in a Twitter post that they spent 69% of the donations on army support, 19% humanitarian help, and 12% on general aid. He also called these donations “an incredible unity before Putin’s encroachment on freedom and democracy.” The minister hopes to double the amount in the coming days.

On 03/01, someone donated a #cryptopunk No. 5364 by @larvalabs to Ukraine.

It’s 56 #ETH (around $150k).

People ask if it helps. Two points. 1 — it’s hard to cash it out. 2 — it’s a big deal since it engages more people who belong to the community. Thank you, #cryptofolks!

— Alex Bornyakov (@abornyakov) March 5, 2022

Notably, most of these donations have been in Bitcoin and Ether. The country has also received donations in Tether, Polkadot, and Solana. Moreover, it also received NFTs, including a highly-valued one — CryptoPunk.

Bornyakov said:

On 03/01, someone donated a crypto punk No. 5364 by Larvalabs to Ukraine. It’s 56 ETH (around $150k). People ask if it helps. Two points. 1 — it’s hard to cash it out. 2 — it’s a big deal since it engages more people who belong to the community. Thank you, cryptofolks!

Chris DePow, a regulation and compliance expert at Elliptic — the blockchain analytics firm — said this is the first time they’re seeing a public concerted effort to raise funds to finance an ongoing conflict through cryptocurrency.

With the war escalating in Ukraine, charities and humanitarian organizations have been facing a tough time delivering aid to the country’s population. This, however, hasn’t stopped people from donating. Several large corporations like Amazon, Airbnb, and Snapchat have announced huge donations. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, has pledged $10 million donations for Ukraine.