March 1, 2022
By Priyanka Shetty
Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, a company that tracks the movement of digital coins on the blockchain, confirmed that Ukraine has raised close to US$13 million after appealing through social media posts for donations of bitcoin and other digital tokens.
Here’s what we know:
- On 26th of February, just days after the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov appealed for crypto donations by tweeting the wallet address. “Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations,” wrote Fedorov, who is also minister of digital transformation. By 0850 GMT Monday, the wallet addresses had received crypto worth $12.8 million across almost 17,300 donations, London-based Elliptic said.
- Elliptic also said, there has been a spike in crypto donations to Ukrainian volunteers and hacking groups since Russia’s invasion.
- Ukraine’s appeal for direct donations is among the first of its kind. Initially some people, including ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, were concerned that the tweet may have been from scammers who had hacked the account. Later, Ukraine’s ministry of digital transformation confirmed the tweets were genuine and added: “How will we use money? To destroy as many Russian soldiers as possible.”
- According to Elliptic data, so far the largest donation of 100 ethers (approximately $278,000) has come from Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain.com, a blockchain technology company.
About the author
Based in Bengaluru, Priyanka Shetty is a freelance writer for Blockchain Asset Review.
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