Millions of dollars raised in crypto in solidarity with the Ukrainian people

From the first hours of the conflict, a momentum of humanitarian solidarity was manifested in theuniverse of the cryptocurrency to the people of Ukraine. Donations began to flow in favor of NGOs such as forces of resistance ; on the morning of February 28, they amounted to 20 million dollars if we are to believe the tweet posted by Tom Robinson from the Elliptic Institute.

Two particularly generous donors

On his own, on January 25, around 10 a.m., a donor had already given 80 BTC or the equivalent of 3 million dollars to a charitable organization in Ukraine. And on the evening of February 27, another anonymous donor donated $1 million (in Bitcoin).

Around the world, there have been growing calls for support from the people of Ukraine from cryptocurrency holders. This is particularly the case of Unchain Ukraine, a charity project set up by activists and which alone has already raised the equivalent of $1.5 million. The ease with which it is possible to transfer such funds from one wallet (crypto wallet) to another, undoubtedly helped to quickly reach such an amount. It should be noted that the government of Ukraine has published its own wallet addresses for sending bitcoin or ethereum on his Twitter account.

Vitalik Buterin: “Ethereum is neutral, but not me”

It turns out that some major figures in the crypto universe have clearly taken a stand. Among them is Vitalik Buterinhighly respected for his position as the creator of ethereum, also a native of Russia. Coming out of his reserve, Buterin summed up his position thus: Ethereum is neutral. But I am not “. When the invasion started, Buterin was unequivocal, still on his Twitter account: I am very upset by Putin’s decision to abandon the possibility of a peaceful solution towards Ukraine “. He later called the decision ” crime against the Russian and Ukrainian peoples » and went so far as to sign his tweet : « Glory to Ukraine “. When the calls for donations started, Buterin first warned Internet users, urging them to beware of potential hacks. And then he confirmed that the government account was legitimate.

Another major figure in the cryptocurrency world, Sam Bankman-Friedfounder of the FTX exchange tweeted on February 24 this: We gave 25 dollars to each Ukrainian with an account on FTX. Do what you have to do “.

Flee the conflict zone

Here and there, we also discover that bitcoin was able to help certain isolated personalities to flee the conflict zone. Thereby, Bitcoin Magazine reported the testimony of a man named LDV who was able to flee to Poland and find refuge there, thanks to his BTCs. The person concerned also reports that, from this shelter, he contributes to the efforts of Dmytro, a group of hackers who are currently attacking several Russian organizations.

Could Russia use bitcoin to evade sanctions?

Of course, there is a flip side. Some analysts wonder: what if Putin had knowingly launched his invasion, knowing that he could rely on bitcoin to resist Western measures — such as the banishment of many Russian banks from the international system? Swift ? In fact, Russia is the third nation in terms of bitcoin mining after the USA and Kazakhstan.

This is the opinion of Neeraj Agrawalcommunications director at Coin Center who tweeted: “ Russia Could Use Cryptocurrencies to Evade Sanctions on a Massive Scale “. If so, the Russian president would have shown unparalleled Machiavellianism…