Within a bit more than a week, following the unprovoked invasion by the Russian army, crypto donations to Ukraine have rocketed higher. While funds are being contributed by governments and international agencies, along with more traditional charity paths, crypto has risen to the occasion too as the Ukrainian government, as well as Ukrainian NGOs and media, have leveraged digital assets to rush funds to the beleaguered country.
Merkle Science has been tracking the donations providing additional insight into which cryptocurrencies are being used and where the funds have been going.
As it stands today, Ethereum (ETH) has been the source of almost 40% of the donations followed by Bitcoin (BTC) at around 29%. The bulk is made up of other digital assets and Ukrainians have been adding new cryptos to facilitate donations.
Over 52% has gone directly to the Ukrainian government with Come Back Alive, an entity that supports members of the Ukrainian military, garnering over 17%. Ukraine DAO has captured 16% of the crypto.
In the last couple of days, transactions have jumped dramatically going from a handful each day to thousands.
Earlier today it was reported that Ukraine would be issuing NFTs it intends to utilize to raise more funds.
After careful consideration we decided to cancel airdrop. Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine to fight back the agression. Instead, we will announce NFTs to support Ukrainian Armed Forces soon. We DO NOT HAVE any plans to issue any fungible tokens
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 3, 2022
Individuals interested in contributing crypto have been cautioned to confirm the destination address is legitimate as there is the potential for scams.
Meanwhile, the environment in Russia has taken an Orwellian twist as the Russian government has banned both Facebook and Twitter and legislation has been signed to criminalize independent reporting in the country.
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