The Ukrainian government and local NGOs raised US$18.6 million as at 28 February 8am, through thousands of cryptocurrency donations since the start of the invasion, according to blockchain analysis company Elliptic.
Ukraine’s official Twitter account and Vice-Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made the appeal via Twitter over the weekend.
“Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations,” Fedorov tweeted.
Since then, over US$12 million has been received by the government across 15,429 transactions.
One NGO received a single bitcoin donation worth $3 million.
According to Elliptic, a majority of donations have been in bitcoin and Ether, with the US dollar stablecoins also contributing a portion.
In the early hours of Monday morning, DMarket, a platform for trading NFT, joined the global effort to support Ukraine and announced its intentions to freeze the accounts of users from Russia and Belarus.
The Ukrainian-born start-up is the first crypto exchange to answer Fedorov’s plea.
“I'm asking all major crypto exchanges to block addresses of Russian users.
“It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users,” Fedorov tweeted just hours earlier.
Praising DMarket for standing with Ukraine, the Vice-PM suggested funds from the frozen accounts could be donated to the war effort.
“Nowadays Robin Hood. Bravo.”
Ukraine’s crypto crowdfunding appeal is the first of its kind worldwide.
Maja Garaca Djurdjevic
Maja's career in journalism spans well over a decade across finance, business and politics. Now an experienced editor and reporter across all elements of the financial services sector, prior to joining Momentum Media, Maja reported for several established news outlets in Southeast Europe, scrutinising key processes in post-conflict societies.
