Ukraine and its supporting NGOs have raised $42 million in cryptocurrency in the first week of Russia’s invasion.
The sizable sum came from tens of thousands of donations made through Bitcoin and U.S. dollars to a digital wallet, a link to which Ukrainian officials posted on social media.
The Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, and Polkadot digital wallets listed in a Saturday tweet from the Ukrainian government have received 53,709 cryptocurrency donations, worth $34.2 million in the United States, according to analysis from blockchain firm Elliptic released on Wednesday.
RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS BEING DISRUPTED EVEN WITHOUT SANCTIONS
These donations included a single donation of $1.86 million funded by the sale of NFTs initially meant to help raise funds for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Ukraine also received a Cryptopunk NFT valued at approximately $200,000.
The Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive received millions in cryptocurrency donations, including $6.5 million in Ethereum acquired through the sale of an NFT of the Ukrainian flag by a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. Come Back Alive’s Patreon fundraising page was pulled down on Friday because the organization used its funding to purchase weapons and encourage violence.
Most of the cryptocurrency donations to Ukraine were made through Bitcoin and Ethereum, the most common forms of cryptocurrency used in the market.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a public request on Sunday, asking cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the accounts of all Russians. The exchanges declined to do so, stating that it was contrary to their goals of increasing financial freedom across the globe.
