Tag: Ukraine

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Charity Cryptocurrencies FTX Ukraine

Ukraine Partners with FTX to Launch Crypto Fundraising Website

Digital asset exchange FTX and the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation have come together to develop a platform for crypto donations to the besieged country’s war defence.

‘Aid for Ukraine’ is utilising FTX’s technology to convert crypto donations into fiat money, which is then distributed to Ukraine’s National Bank’s fundraising account:

Three-Way Partnership

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, took to Twitter on March 15 to announce Aid for Ukraine, the result of a partnership between the nation, FTX and decentralised staking provider Everstake.

FTX and Everstake have been developing the necessary technology to convert incoming donations into fiat money that can be used by Ukrainians in need. The money is sent to the National Bank’s fundraising account and distributed appropriately, though some Twitter users have raised concerns about how their donations are being spent:

The donated funds are said to be sent directly to both the nation’s armed forces and civilians in need of humanitarian assistance. At the time of writing, over US$48 million had been raised via the platform.

The site currently accepts BTC, ETH, SOL, EOS, DOGE, XMR, USDT, DOT, ICON and NEO. Updates on how much has been raised by the community so far can be viewed on the Aid for Ukraine website.

Crypto Funds Ukrainian Defence Effort

Crypto donations are playing a large role in Ukraine’s defence against Russia. On March 4, an NFT of the Ukrainian flag raised US$6.75 million in crypto for the nation, proceeds of which were directed to the ‘Come Back Alive’ organisation which donates supplies to the families of soldiers and civilians.

Total crypto donations to Ukrainians have now surpassed US$108 million. Kraken exchange recently distributed over US$10 million in aid to Ukraine citizens with crypto wallets. The total donations are dispersed across relief efforts, charities, and government wallets.

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Crypto Exchange Payments Russia

Crypto Exchanges Resist as Visa, Mastercard and Paypal Suspend Russian Services

Major crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance, have continued to resist calls to suspend their services in Russia despite a wave of withdrawals of major payment providers from the Russian market.

Following on from PayPal’s withdrawal last week, Visa and Mastercard have now moved to suspend their services inside Russia:

In a statement released on March 5, Visa announced its restrictions would come into effect in coming days and would mean Visa cards “issued in Russia will no longer work outside the country and any Visa cards issued by financial institutions outside of Russia will no longer work within the Russian Federation”.

In a similar move, Mastercard will be suspending all cards issued by Russian banks, and any cards issued outside Russia will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs.

Russia Partners With Chinese UnionPay to Fill Void

In response to the announcements by Mastercard and Visa, several Russian banks – including the federation’s largest lender, state-owned Sberbank – have said they will begin issuing cards from the Chinese operator UnionPay in partnership with the Russia-based payments network MIR.

Crypto Unlikely to Help in Avoiding Sanctions

Although at first glance it seems reckless for crypto exchanges to continue operating in Russia,  given the risk of circumventing sanctions, the relatively small scale of crypto markets, the lack of Ruble pairs, and blockchains’ highly traceable and immutable nature may actually make the risk relatively small.

According to Carole House, the US National Security Council’s director of cybersecurity, the sheer volume of currency Russia would need to circumvent the West’s economic sanctions “would almost certainly render cryptocurrency as an ineffective primary tool for the state”.

Jake Chervinsky, the Blockchain Association’s head of policy, created a Twitter thread to explain why Russia can’t use crypto to evade sanctions:

Perhaps more importantly, there exists a much more established alternative for the Russian government – the Chinese CIPS network (which is essentially the Chinese SWIFT).

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Airdrop Crypto News Russia Scams

Ukraine Update: Over $56 Million in Donations, Airdrop Cancelled and Scams Aplenty

Over US$56 million in crypto donations have now been sent to support Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia. This milestone comes amid the cancellation of a planned airdrop from the Ukrainian government and a spate of scams looking to capitalise on the crypto community’s generosity.

Crypto Generosity Providing Crucial Aid

According to the blockchain analytics platform Elliptic, over 100,000 separate donations have been made to the Ukraine government and supporting NGOs since the start of the conflict, totalling just over US$56 million. This is over 50 percent up from the US$37 million figure reported by Crypto News Australia reported just a few days ago.

The donations are made up of a variety of cryptocurrencies. Elliptic lists the approximate breakdown as:

  • 31.2 percent Bitcoin;
  • 33.7 percent Ethereum;
  • 17 percent stablecoins;
  • 14.5 percent Polkadot; and
  • 3.6 percent other crypto.

In addition to crypto donations from individual users, UkraineDAO auctioned off a Ukrainian flag NFT for US$6.5 million worth of Ethereum, proceeds of which will go to the NGO Come Back Alive.

Government Airdrop Cancelled Amid Spoof

A planned Ukrainian government airdrop – designed to reward users who had donated to the Ukrainian cause – was cancelled after the Peaceful World token (WORLD) was identified as a spoof of the official Ukrainian government airdrop:

The Ukrainian government decided to abandon its airdrop to avoid exposing users to potential phishing scams and spam attacks:

Scammers Seek to Take Advantage

Amid the wave of generosity, scammers have sought to take advantage by duping well-intentioned users into donating crypto to addresses not associated with the Ukrainian government or any registered NGOs.

A range of Ukrainian crypto scams have been reported, including phishing emails purporting to be from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, fake websites, and dodgy forum posts. 

Malware Hunter Team has reported a rapid increase in phishing websites with domains such as “Ukraine-donate” and “Ukraineglobalaid” since the start of the conflict.

To avoid falling victim to a donation scam and to ensure your funds go where you intend, it is recommended you only donate to wallet addresses released by officials from the Ukrainian government or supporting NGOs.

Categories
Crypto Exchange Cryptocurrency Law

Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Calls on Crypto Exchanges to Block Russian Users

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, has requested that major crypto exchanges block the addresses of Russian and Belarusian users. Ukraine is now preparing to make legal demands to ensure its pleas are acted on:

Fedorov has written to eight prominent cryptocurrency exchanges voicing the request in the hope of blocking some of Russia’s potential military funding: “It’s crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians but also to sabotage ordinary users’ [access],” Federov later tweeted:

Demands Require Legal Backing

Ukraine has promised “generous rewards” for anyone with information about the crypto wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians. The vice prime minister’s ministry then turned its attention to Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, Gate.io, Whitebit, KuCoin, Bybit, and Kuna to address them directly. However, Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, explained why blocking these users without the backup of legal demands was not possible:

Powell argued that, while Kraken maintains its anti-war stance, blocking users would infringe on what crypto stands for:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insulting-kraken-ceo-refuses-comply-154447927.html

The People’s Money is an exit strategy for humans, a weapon for peace, not for war.

Jesse Powell, Kraken CEO and co-founder

In addition, Coinbase has refused to implement Fedorov’s request, saying:

Our mission is to increase economic freedom in the world. A unilateral and total ban would punish ordinary Russian citizens who are enduring historic currency destabilization as a result of their government’s aggression against a democratic neighbor. We remain vigilant as this invasion evolves and are deeply committed to playing our part.

Coinbase statement

Ukraine Embraces Cryptocurrency

Ukraine as a nation has opened its arms to cryptocurrency. In September 2021, draft legislation was passed with the intention to legalise and regulate bitcoin. The purpose of the bill is to protect those who own and trade in bitcoin.

Since the beginning of Russia’s military invasion, Ukraine has had the support of crypto users from around the globe. As of early March, US$37 million had been donated to both the Ukraine government and non-governmental organisations.

Categories
Crypto News Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrencies Russia

Ukraine Government Raises Over $37 Million in Crypto After Public Appeal

Since the start of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, over US$37 million in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been donated to the Ukrainian government and Ukraine-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

This figure is rising rapidly as donations continue to pour in from crypto users around the globe.

Ukraine has been fairly progressive in its approach to crypto, having officially legalised Bitcoin and other digital assets in 2021.

The official Twitter account of the Ukrainian government issued a request for crypto donations on February 27, including to its official Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT (ERC-20) addresses. 

Initially there was some scepticism about the legitimacy of the request, with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin tweeting a warning – but it was later confirmed the addresses were under the direct control of the Ukrainian government. 

Analytics Show Most Donations Direct to Government

According to crypto analytics firm Elliptic, of the current donations, US$10.6 million has gone directly to the Ukrainian government from 13,670 individual transactions – including the donation of one NFT worth US$1.86 million, which was originally intended to raise funds for imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The remainder of the donations have gone to NGOs, most notably Come Back Alive, which has received over US$6.5 million in Bitcoin and has come to rely more heavily on crypto donations following the suspension of its Patreon account due to funding military activity.

Crypto Shines During Conflict, Both Sides Could Benefit

Many in the community have noted the advantages crypto provides over more traditional payment systems during times of crisis. While Russia looks like it may be entirely cut off from the SWIFT network and Patreon suspends the accounts of NGOs, crypto donations continue to flow unabated:

Of course, crypto’s decentralised nature allows for funds to flow freely to both sides of the conflict and there’s still significant doubt and concern about how crypto might influence the course of this, and future, military conflicts.