On Monday, the Ukrainian government launched a Ukraine crypto donation website in partnership with FTX which is a crypto firm and Everstake that will create an avenue for donations to the central bank of Ukraine as it combats the deadly Russian invasion.
Ukraine Crypto Donations Website Is Now Functional
On the Ukraine crypto donation website that has been named “ Aid For Ukraine”, users can presently offer donations in ten digital currencies that include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Tether. Oleksandre Borniakov, the deputy minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, said in a statement,
“Cryptocurrencies play a significant role in Ukraine’s defense. Cryptocurrency assets have proven to be extremely valuable in facilitating the flow of funding to Ukrainian citizens and soldiers and in raising awareness and interest among the global public.”
The Everstake crypto firm, which is one of the biggest in Ukraine, will enable users to allow them to make donations in other digital currencies than those that have been listed on the Ukraine crypto donation website. The website also plans to add the potential to donate NFTs (non fungible tokens) in the future. According to Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko,
“Aid For Ukraine shows how the global crypto community and the traditional financial system can work together. Crypto donations to the DAO are stored and governed on-chain, then transferred to FTX, a centralized exchange, to be sold for fiat USD sent via SWIFT to the Ukrainian government.”
FTX, which is a Bahamas-based exchange platform, founded by US billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, will change the donated funds into dollars and navigate them to the National Bank of Ukraine. The Ukrainian digital currency exchange platform Kuna is also part of this initiative.
On the “Aid for Ukraine” website, a tracker highlighted that by 0230 GMT Tuesday, nearly $49 million had been raised out of an aim of $200 million. The money received will be used to support the Ukrainian military along with the civilians “in dire need of humanitarian assistance,” the partnership stated in the statement.
The Ukraine crypto donation website assembled the list of all the wallet addresses that were before offered by the Ukrainian government using their Twitter account. However, since the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, there are some cryptocurrency firms that have declared that they would be donating to Ukraine. Kraken, which is a very popular crypto exchange, pledged to distribute $1,000 to every user who had opened an account in the nation before March 9.
As per a report, as of March 9, several government and organizations operated wallets have got over $108 million towards helping Ukraine. The funds sent for Ukrainians come between Russia facing economic stress because of the sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union. Many private businesses that include major banking firms Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Mastercard have all cut their ties with the nation in the last two weeks.
Russia Ukraine Crisis Shows The Importance Of Crypto
Let us begin with Ukraine first. People from across the globe are coming forward to help them. Now that can only be done as digital currency is a global currency and allows cross borders payments without any hindrance. It has also become evident that the traditional finance system and crypto can operate together.
In the case of Russia, even they are in a dire situation as per their economy is concerned, and the ones suffering are mostly the ordinary citizens of Russia. Even for them, crypto has become important as the value of the Ruble has dropped over 50 percent after the war. Along with that, sanctions that have been placed on them make it really difficult to conduct international trades.
Conclusion
Digital currencies have proven to be a lifesaver for Ukraine in this prevailing war. They are able to raise a good amount of funds to aid the civilians and military of the nation. And now, to make things, even more, better, they have created a Ukraine crypto donation website that has assembled all the wallet addresses that were previously used individually. It is a request to all readers reading this if you can please donate.
