Ukraine’s Government Raises $8 Million in Crypto

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With the conflict between Ukraine and Russia escalating, Ukraine is doing everything in its power to drive back the superpower from invading its land. Being a smaller country Ukraine has turned its eyes to crypto to help fund the government. 

In a crowdfunding plea, Ukraine’s government raises crypto valued at $8 million

According to Elliptic, a blockchain analysis business, the Ukrainian government has raised almost $8 million in cryptocurrencies through social media pleas for donations of bitcoin and other digital tokens, among other things.

Earlier this week, in response to Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s official Twitter account made an appeal for cryptocurrency donations, including the publication of digital wallet addresses for cryptocurrency tokens such as bitcoin and ether.

Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, shared the wallet addresses with the public via Twitter. “Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations.” Fedorov added that the minister of digital transformation had made the statement.

Ukraine wartime crypto fundraising

Russian military vehicles advanced into Ukraine on the fourth day of the fight, and explosions rocked the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, causing significant damage to oil and gas installations.

According to Elliptic, a London-based cryptocurrency exchange, a total of $7.9 million in bitcoin has been moved to the wallet addresses as of 1030 GMT on Sunday. When it comes to tracking the transfer of digital tokens, the firm relies on blockchain technology, which is a decentralized public database for documenting cryptographic transactions.

Requests for comment from Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation went unanswered almost immediately after being submitted.

Ukraine has never before experienced such a high demand for cryptocurrency-based funding. A formal appeal for cash donations has been issued by Ukraine, even though cryptocurrency has been accepted as a form of payment in some countries, such as El Salvador and Venezuela. Kyiv’s plans for the money are still unknown.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, according to Elliptic, crypto donations to volunteer and hacking groups in Ukraine have increased. Donations to such organizations, some of which have provided military equipment to government forces, increased dramatically in January as Russia prepared to invade Ukraine, according to the United Nations.

Conclusion

Although this is good news for the crypto community seeing as another country has turned its eyes toward using cryptocurrencies to help fund itself. Sadly this happened during very unfortunate terms. 

We hope this information will help you in your investment process, but this is not investment advice. Every investment carries risk, especially in this industry, so DYOR before making a decision.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Watson
Project Manager

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