Amid being invaded by its eastern neighbor, which caused significant disruption to its financial networks, Ukraine and its authorities sought donations in cryptocurrencies. The community and other people responded swiftly with reports indicating that more than $13 million worth of digital assets were sent to the provided addresses.
Ukraine Seeks Help in Crypto
After weeks of increasing tension between the two former Soviet states, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine a few days ago, claiming that he wants to liberate certain separatists.
While he also asserted initially that his military wouldn’t occupy Ukraine or head towards Kyiv, that’s precisely what happened in the next few days. As such, the country’s capital currently fights for its survival, and its citizens are either hiding in bunkers or trying to flee.
It’s safe to say that regular life doesn’t exist at the moment in the country. While attempting to escape, countless locals flooded ATMs to withdraw money, but the central bank had to limit cash withdrawals and seize electronic transactions.
At this point, reports started to emerge indicating that Ukrainian organizations began receiving cryptocurrency donations. Shortly after, the nation’s authorities, through its official Twitter account, asked for more help in the form of bitcoin, ether, and USDT.
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Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.
BTC – 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P
ETH and USDT (ERC-20) – 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022
Crypto to the Rescue?
With the ongoing disinformation coming from all sides, many questioned the validity of these wallets, including Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, who stands openly against the war, despite being born in Russia.
However, he deleted his warning that the addresses might be illegitimate and also supported another crypto-related organization aiming to help Ukrainians.
Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, also jumped on board and said he was “glad to announce” a donation worth $200,000 in Tether.
I am glad to announce that I have made my initial donation of $200,000 USDT on #TRON to #Ukraine The people of Ukraine are not left alone in their fight against humanitarian crisis! @VitalikButerin @FedorovMykhailo @Ukraine
Check my hash: https://t.co/q0a2xgaIwK— H.E. Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) February 26, 2022
According to the most recent estimations by the blockchain analytics company Elliptic, the Ukrainian government, NGOs, and volunteer groups have received nearly $14 million worth of cryptocurrencies in the past several days.
The company said the median donation is $95, but, as reported recently, one anonymous entity sent $3 million worth of BTC.
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