Cryptocurrencies to finance the war: the Ukrainian army receives millions of dollars in donations

As the bombings and anti-aircraft sirens take center stage in the Ukrainian night, the support of the international population comes in the form of donations to the Ukrainian army. Some troops who have seen how their supporters have eluded financial institutions, which could block transactions, thanks to cryptocurrencies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s camp, much more limited in number and capacity than Vladimir Putin’s, has received more than 4 million dollars in cryptocurrencies through Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO.

As reported by the organization, only during the first 12 hours of Thursday, donors sent about 675,000 dollars in bitcoins. However, a donation $3 million in crypto assets from an anonymous supporter They shot up the NGO’s collection on Friday.

“Cryptocurrency is particularly well-suited for international fundraising as it does not respect national borders and is able to resist blockages – there is no central authority that can block transactions, for example in response to sanctions,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, told CNBC.

Donations will fund a facial recognition app

This particular way of sending donations to the Ukrainian troops also responds to the need to circumvent the martial law imposed by Zelensky after the advance of the Russian forces, which limits access to foreign currenciesas well as cash withdrawal.

The problem is aggravated when considering that Patreon, one of the platforms that the NGO used to make the collections, closed the Come Back Alive page. “Patreon does not allow any campaign involved in violence or the purchase of military equipment, regardless of its cause,” a Patreon spokesperson explained to Bloomberg. The platform announced that it would return donations to users.

Some donations that have served to fuel the defense power of a side that only invested $3.9 billion in 2021, while the Russian government allocated ten times more. However, it should be noted that the Ukrainian government has approved an investment of about 870 million dollars at the beginning of the week.

Although the economic support provided by these supporters is practically inconsequential compared to Russian capacity, it will serve to equip Zelensky’s troops with military equipment, medical supplies and drones. In addition, part of the donation will go to the development of a facial recognition applicationwhich will identify possible Russian mercenaries or spies.

“Cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used to finance mob wars, with the tacit approval of governments,” Robinson noted.

A Cryptocurrency Tycoon and a Punk Band Give Their Support to Ukraine

Support for the Ukrainian community is spreading all over the world, although most of the time it has to be limited to help in the form of crypto.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, a Bahamas-based crypto asset trading platform, has also joined the cause. In this case, the crypto tycoon announced that I would donate 25 dollars to all Ukrainian users of your application. “Do what you have to do,” Bankman added in his announcement on Twitter.

On the other hand, a Russian punk band, known for its opposition to the Putin government, has also thrown its support through its UkraineDAO platform. Pussy Riot recently launched this app in order to raise funds for civil organizations, such as Kiev Come Back Alive and Proliska, which works to help civilians in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

In the same way, crowdfunding campaigns are proliferating all over the world, starting with the traditional Facebook fundraisers and ending with organizations that have become very popular in recent times, the DAOs.

Decentralized autonomous organizations, hence its name, for its acronym in English. These non-profit entities are governed by the blockchain and their intention is to collect donations in the form of cryptocurrencies.