The National Bank of Ukraine has received the first tranche of $1 million raised by Solana enthusiasts from all over the world through a dedicated initiative.
The initiative, dubbed Aid for Ukraine, is powered by Everstake, FTX, Solana Labs, the Metaplex Foundation and Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation via a special fundraiser in SOL. It is designed to support Ukraine and the victims of the Russian invasion. The funds will be sent directly to the fundraising account for the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and humanitarian aid programs through the intermediation of the National Bank of Ukraine.
So far, the initiative has raised more than $1.4 million, of which $375,000 came directly from Everstake, a Ukraine-based company and the biggest decentralized staking provider in the blockchain industry. The fundraiser is still ongoing. Real-time blockchain stats are available at the initiative’s website. One can also follow the initiative on Twitter.
Users can donate Solana, USDC, or even their own NFTs. The official Solana wallet for the donations is ukraine.sol, 66pJhhESDjdeBBDdkKmxYYd7q6GUggYPWjxpMKNX39KV.
“This joint effort is a fantastic reminder of the unity of the Ukrainian people and their true friends from all over the world,” said Sergey Vasylchuk, Everstake’s CEO. “I sincerely and wholeheartedly thank all our partners for their amazing job. I would also like to use this opportunity to remind any business or team that they can donate funds to the Ukrainian military or humanitarian aid through our gateway in a completely safe and secure fashion.”
“Soon we will add other cryptocurrencies to make the donation more convenient to people. Finally, I’d also love to extend my deep gratitude to the media like the Washington Post or Bloomberg who covered our initiative and thus helped us raise the funds so needed in this dark hour.”
The funds will be converted by FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange and the official partner of the initiative. Today, the first tranche of $1 million was sent.
“We are proud to be a part of this tremendous initiative to provide the people of Ukraine the financial support they need in their darkest hour. I’ve been truly impressed by the generosity of the entire crypto community and I’m thrilled that our platform will be able to facilitate getting this financial aid to those that need it most. We will continue to work diligently alongside Everstake, the Ukrainian government, and our other partners to deploy resources to the people,” added Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of FTX.
Aid for Ukraine is one of several cryptocurrency initiatives raising funds in different cryptocurrencies to aid Ukraine and its people and military. Together, they have raised more than $55 million in Solana and other cryptocurrencies, according to Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation.
“Today, fundraising with crypto is crucial for Ukraine because it allows us to collect donations instantly from a variety of people around the world as well as scaling up the political agenda about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, raising global awareness and strengthening support of Ukraine worldwide. It is heartening to see the crypto community come together in aid of Ukraine. I would like to thank everyone from the blockchain industry who helps Ukraine, our army, and Ukrainians on this occasion. Special thanks to the Solana community and Everstake for mobilizing such urgently needed support,” said Oleksandr Bornyakov, the deputy minister of digital transformation of Ukraine on IT industry development.