After Russia invaded Ukraine, the officials asked crypto the global community for crypto donations. In a short period, crypto donations to Ukraine have reached 50 million dollars.
If you would’ve mentioned “Bitcoin and Ukraine” in one sentence before February, you might’ve not thought about anything specific right away. However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it became clear that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can play an essential role in conflict situations.
After the first week of the invasion, many people’s perceptions of digital currencies changed dramatically. The main reason for this change is that cryptocurrencies can help Ukraine fundraise and fight against the attack.
Russia began the invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February. Two days after the Russian military attacks, an interesting announcement was made on the Ukrainian official Twitter account. Officials posted the countries crypto wallet address and asked for cryptocurrencies.
Ukraine first asked for Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether, three well-known cryptocurrencies. However, after a week, they started accepting other cryptocurrency donations and NFTs.
Ukraine’s crypto campaign started after Patreon suspended Come Back Alive, an NGO benefiting the Ukrainian military. Patreon discontinued the crowdfunding page because collecting money to support a country’s military violates its terms.
When the Come Back Alive’s Patreon page was suspended, people started to ask how to help the Ukraine army.
After this, Come Back Alive started to collect Ethereum donations and other crypto donations. According to Elliptic, UK based blockchain analytics firm, Come Back Alive got a 400,000-dollar bitcoin donation only in one day. In the first week of March, Ukraine bitcoin donations reached 50 million dollars.
HOW TO DONATE BITCOIN AND OTHER CRYPTOS TO UKRAINE?
Traditionally, a person who would want to donate some money to Ukraine had two options. While one way to do this is to donate on fundraising pages, another option is to deposit money into a bank account. Now, everyone can donate bitcoin to Ukraine.
Many people have raised the question, “How to donate bitcoin to Ukraine?”. If you have a Bitcoin account, you can send crypto directly to Ukraine’s official Bitcoin account or Ethereum account. Ukraine also accepts Polkadot, Solana, and other cryptocurrencies.
Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Polkadot, donated 5-million dollars’ worth of Polkadot to Ukraine.
To donate, you need two things, a public key address to send crypto and a cryptocurrency wallet. Of course, you need to have some crypto in your cryptocurrency wallet. You will write the amount and the address to which you want to send crypto, and then you can hit the “send” button.
Don’t forget; you can only send Bitcoin to Bitcoin ledger and Ether to Ether ledger. If you accidentally send your donations to the wrong public key address, there is no turning back.
UKRAINE ACCEPTING DOGECOIN DONATIONS
Since its inception, Dogecoin has surprised lots of people. It started as a joke and was often referred to as a “meme coin”. However, when Elon Musk started to support the coin, its price increased, and the coin became extremely popular.
According to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Ukraine also accepts dogecoin donations.
These crypto donations will be used for the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian people’s needs.
Uniswap has created a feature that allows users to convert any Ethereum-based digital money into Ether and send it to Ukraine.
CRYPTO DONATIONS ARE FAST AND TRANSPARENT
Regulators and politicians are expressing their concerns about cryptocurrencies that this could become a tool for sanctions evasion by Russian government officials and businesspeople. However, crypto donations to Ukraine show that this method is easy, fast, and transparent.
Bitcoin donations and other cryptocurrency donations have reached the Ukrainian government in a couple of minutes. Also, Ukraine managed to raise money without the restrictions imposed by tech firms or governments.
Like Patreon, tech firms can easily block the accounts, and governments can freeze the bank accounts. On the other hand, no one can stop or freeze crypto donations.
The country has already withdrawn 2.9 million dollars from Ukraine’s Bitcoin wallet. Ukraine buys nonlethal things with crypto donations, according to Michael Chobanian, chief executive of Kuna.io, a Kyiv-based cryptocurrency exchange that helped the government set up and manage its crypto wallets for donations. Chobanian told the Washington Post, “We obviously can’t buy nuclear bombs or rockets.”
BITCOIN DONATIONS TO HELP JOURNALISTS
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not only helping the Ukrainian government but also journalists. The Kyiv Independent, an English newspaper, is accepting bitcoin donations.
During a single day, the newspaper received $23,553 in Bitcoin donations.
The Kyiv Independent said on Twitter, “We’re dealing with increased volumes of traffic, attacks, and an unpredictable situation on the ground. Your support is what keeps us going.”
What do you think about crypto donations to Ukraine? Is it a good way to help Ukraine or not? Have you ever donated Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies? Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments on the subject.
