Thursday, February 28th, 2022 | Cryptostotle #8 | By: Brad Lathrop
The Ukrainian government is receiving financial support and donations from people across the globe to help them fight Russia’s invasion.
The currency? Crypto.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian government asked for help by tweeting that it would be accepting cryptocurrency donations, namely Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT (a stablecoin tied to the US dollar). The Ukrainian government included a Bitcoin address and an Ethereum/USDT address in the tweet.
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
Today, two days later, the Ukrainian government has raised over $13 million in cryptocurrency, according to Reuters.
This marks an unprecedented moment in Bitcoin’s (and crypto’s) history. Never before has so much money been raised in crypto to help fund a country’s war efforts.
NFTs have also contributed to the donations. According to an article by CNBC, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said that “about $1.86 million of the money donated to Ukraine’s government was generated through the sale of a non-fungible token, or NFT, originally intended to raise funds for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.”
Prominent figures in the crypto community are also making donations. Gavin Wood, founder of the cryptocurrency Polkadot, replied to Ukraine’s tweet for financial aid and said he would contribute $5M personally.
If you post a DOT address I'll personally contribute $5m.
— Gavin Wood (@gavofyork) February 27, 2022
This support is inspiring to say the least, and it’s great to see cryptocurrencies being used for such an important purpose.
Bitcoin’s price is currently up 5%+ over the last 24 hours and sits at $41,174.
