Since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, more than $70 million in cryptocurrencies have been transferred to various Ukrainian foundations. About 80% of the total amount of donations was transferred during the first few months of the war.
The global crypto community donated over $70 million in cryptocurrencies to charities and public organizations in Ukraine after the start of the Russian “special military operation.” This is reported by Chainalysis analysts. According to Chainalysis, more than 100,000 people donated digital assets in support of Ukraine.
In the first few months of the war, about 80% of the total amount was transferred, which allowed Ukraine “to secure the purchase of vital items in no time at all,” including “bulletproof vests, helmets, and different kind of optics.” This was reported in an interview with Yahoo Finance by Alex Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine for IT Development. The official also shared his surprise that over 60% of suppliers were able to accept crypto payments.
Ethereum turned out to be the leader in popularity among digital assets — a total of $28.9 million worth of ETH was transferred to help Ukraine during the year. Bitcoin came second, with $22.8 million in BTC donations. Tether (USDT) closed the top three with $11.6 million. Furthermore, significant amounts were transferred in DAI and USDC, as well as DOT, DOGE, and other cryptocurrencies.
Amid the growing use of digital assets for various government needs, analysts at DappRadar recognized Ukraine as the world leader in the crypto adoption rate in Q3 2022.
Meanwhile, according to Chainalysis, approximately $5.4 million in cryptocurrencies were raised in support of the Russian side over the past year. Over 100 groups collect crypto donations for the Russian army and volunteer units. Moreover, analysts point to a possible connection between various hacker groups and the Russian armed forces. For example, the Conti group, which officially declared its support of the Russian government’s policies, managed to get $66 million in crypto as a result of scams.
International economic sanctions were imposed against Russia following the military invasion. In order to circumvent them, the Russian government is looking for ways to use digital assets and rapidly developing crypto laws.
