Ukraine has been relying heavily on bitcoin donations to alleviate humanitarian concerns and finance its defence operations as conflicts with advancing Russian soldiers continue. According to a high-ranking government official, cryptocurrency aids the country to collect and promptly transfer money as well as indulge in foreign business.
Ukraine Spends Millions in Crypto: Deputy Minister
Ukraine has been aggressively soliciting financial help in the form of cryptocurrency donations since the Russian military invasion began last week. In an interview, the country’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov stated, “It’s a really speedy way to obtain a payment – in circumstances like that, you can’t just wait for days to collect money and then you have to distribute them.”
The person stated that shortly after the invasion, the Kyiv administration established a cryptocurrency fund in collaboration with a major exchange. “As a result, money began to flow in almost immediately. “We’ve gathered almost $30 million so far,” Bornyakov told Fox News.
Although the organization that he was referring to allows contributions for defence objectives, Bornyakov said that other charities had been successful in raising cash to help out the distressed civilian population of Ukraine. “I believe we’ve gathered over $100 million so far for various causes,” he said, without indicating whether he was referring to crypto assets.
Ukraine may convert the digital money it gets into other currencies such as US dollars and Euros, according to the deputy minister, who also stressed: “The advantage of crypto is that it allows us to operate globally.”
Concerns that Russia might use cryptocurrency to evade Western sanctions were addressed by Bornyakov, who stated that Ukraine had been in contact with major crypto exchanges, blockchain forensics firms, and anti-money laundering bodies to provide them with information about Russians who are subject to the sanctions.
Despite Ukrainian officials being suspicious of Russia’s competency to use cryptocurrency to avert sanctions, their government has been attempting to expose crypto wallets used by Russian politicians but has been unsuccessful in convincing platforms such as Binance and Kraken to freeze all Russian accounts, as requested by Kyiv
Ukraine has been increasing its list of acceptable cryptocurrencies to include coins like Polkadot and dogecoin, after receiving millions in bitcoin and ether. Binance pledged $10 million while supporting third-party aid through a crowdfunding project, demonstrating the global crypto community’s support for humanitarian operations in the nation.
