Amid War, Ukraine Government Raises Over $10 Million In Cryptocurrency Donations
After turning to an unlikely crowdfunding method amid war, Ukraine¡¯s government has raised more than $10 million in cryptocurrency donations.
After turning to an unlikely crowdfunding method amid war, Ukraine¡¯s government has raised more than $10 million in cryptocurrency donations, as per CNBC.
On Saturday, the official Twitter account of the Ukrainian government had posted addresses for two crypto wallets.
Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.
¡ª Ukraine / §µ§Ü§â§Ñ?§ß§Ñ (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022
BTC - 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P
ETH and USDT (ERC-20) - 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14
And as of yesterday, i.e. Sunday, those two crypto wallets have received $10.2 million worth of crypto, according to research from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. That¡¯s on top of the millions in digital currency donated to non-governmental organizations supporting the Ukrainian military amid the Russian invasion.
As per the analytics firm Elliptic, around $1.86 million of the money donated to Ukraine¡¯s government was generated through the sale of an NFT that was originally intended to raise funds for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Another instance of Ukraine turning to crypto for assistance is the NGO ¡®Come Back Alive¡¯, which provides equipment to the Ukrainian military. The NGO has been accepting crypto donations since 2018 and has recently raised millions of dollars worth of digital currency since Russia¡¯s invasion began last week, as per CNBC.
Total crypto donations to the Ukrainian government and NGOs supporting the military now stand at $16.7 million, according to Elliptic.
Ukraine Minister¡¯s Request To Crypto Exchanges
Yesterday, Ukrainian Vice PM and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov called on major crypto exchanges to block payments to Russian users.
I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users.
¡ª Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 27, 2022
It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users.
Also Read: Amid Crisis, Pakistan Govt Planning To Borrow People's Gold For Help
A day before that, the U.S., European allies and Canada on Saturday had agreed to remove certain Russian banks from Swift, the global interbank messaging system. They also agreed to prevent Russia¡¯s central bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that may undermine sanctions.
These are amongst some of the latest financial measures being taken globally by many countries and organizations against Russia for invading Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Putin has put Russia¡¯s nuclear forces on alert, citing the hard-hitting financial sanctions.
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