Russia conflict: Ukraine raises $10 million in cryptocurrency donations
About $1.86 million of the money donated to Ukraine’s government was generated through the sale of a non-fungible token, or NFT.
Mumbai / February 28, 2022 / 09:32 AM IST
Bitcoin (Representative image)
Under siege from a military invasion by Russia, the Ukrainian government has been seeking help from across the world to resist the military action.
One of the methods through which the government sought help was cryptocurrency donations. The Ukrainian official Twitter account had posted information for two cryptocurrency wallets: one for Bitcoin and one for Ethereum and Tether donations.
According to CNBC, the cryptocurrency wallets have attracted donations worth $10.2 million, which is in addition to the millions of dollars in digital currency that have been donated to non-government organisations that are helping the Ukrainian government.
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, the CNBC report said, quoting Elliptic.
Total crypto donations to the Ukrainian government and NGOs supporting the military now stand at $16.7 million, according to a CNBC report.
While the Ukrainian military could not receive donations in digital currencies as they were not legally recognized by the government, Ukraine has recently relaxed rules to allow the military to access the funds.
Additionally, Ukraine has urged global cryptocurrency exchanges to ban Russia from accessing their platform.
“I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users. It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users,” said Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister and digital transformation minister of Ukraine.