Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co.
How Ukraine relies on cryptocurrency donations in its war with Russia
Ukraine hopes for donations in the form of cryptocurrencies in the war with Russia (symbolic photo)
© Jochen Tack / Picture Alliance
Because of the Ukraine war, there is great misery in the country. The government in Kyiv is trying to get support from all over the world – also in monetary form. She is now calling for donations in cryptocurrencies via the Internet.
Ukraine is asking the digital world for help in its war with mighty Russia. “Stand with the people of Ukraine. We are now accepting donations in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and USDT (Tether),” read a tweet from an official Ukraine Twitter account. For this purpose, addresses from a mixture of numbers and numbers with storage locations, so-called wallets, are published. This is how cryptocurrencies can be sent to the specified recipient.
Practically anyone could be behind the message. Because it is difficult to say for sure who owns and operates these wallets, writes the US technology portal “Techchrunch”. A lot of false reports are circulating, especially in connection with the Ukraine war, especially since both sides are trying to harm each other and use the situation to their advantage as much as possible.
First of all, you should be careful with the published tweet. It is quite possible that it is not the Ukrainian government itself but a person who is trying to profit from the situation. In fact, it is likely that this is an official tweet from Ukraine. The tweet has existed since Saturday; if someone had hacked the Ukrainian government’s account, they would have deleted the tweet fairly quickly.
In addition, other personalities shared this tweet, such as Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. He wrote: “Stand with the people of Ukraine. I am now accepting cryptocurrency donations.” A spokesman for Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation also confirmed the authenticity of the tweet. “Yes, these accounts are government-owned; we have set up a special crypto fund,” was the response to a written query.
Ukraine receives millions worth of cryptocurrencies
In fact, people have already sent cryptocurrency donations to Ukraine. By Tuesday noon, 8138 transactions were made with Bitcoin and 8401 transactions with ETH to the address provided. A total of 186 BTC with a total value of a good eight million US dollars and 2448 ETH with a total value of a good seven million US dollars were sent.
According to Techchrunch, large sums of ETH have already been transferred to Kuna, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Kyiv. “All funds are safe and will be used as requested for government needs,” a Kuna spokesman said in an email. According to the founder of Kuna, Michael Chobanian, it is still unclear into which currency the cryptocurrencies will be exchanged and how these funds will be spent. So far there has been no response from the Ukrainian government.
Meanwhile, Ukraine tweeted Tuesday morning, “The people of Ukraine are grateful for the support and donations from the global crypto community as we protect our freedom. We are now also accepting Polkadot donations.” As of Tuesday noon, around $210,000 worth of cryptocurrency donations had been received. Also, users have launched their own fundraising platforms to collect cryptocurrency donations for Ukraine.
Source: Techrunch