Ukraine Receives $20M From Bitcoin, Ethereum Donors

Ukraine’s government has received $20 million in donations in bitcoin and ethereum in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the country.

According to Decrypt, which cited blockchain networks, those donations consisted of $9.4 million in bitcoin contributions and $10.6 million in ethereum.

Two days after the invasion began, the Ukrainian government had asked for crypto donations on Twitter, sharing bitcoin and ethereum wallet addresses.

It has since said it would accept polkadot donations, prompting polkadot founder Gavin Wood to donate $5.8 million in his currency.

These donations are part of a wider wave of cryptocurrency donations to help Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues. Blockchain analytics platform Elliptic said the Ukrainian government — as well as NGOs providing support — have raised $35 million through more than 35,000 crypto donors.

Ukraine has also received $7.2 million in unspecific cryptocurrency from the Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive, while a fundraiser called Support Ukrainian Sovereignty said it has raised around $560,000.

Read more: Ukraine to Sell NFTs to Fund Its Military

Also this week, Ukraine announced plans to issue its own nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection, capitalizing on the wave of cryptocurrency donations.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s vice prime minister, announced this plan in a tweet on Thursday (March 3) and said Kyiv would unveil more details on the NFTs soon.

The Ukrainian government has increasingly embraced digital currency to help finance its war effort, including the armed forces on the ground. The country recently raised more than $270 million in “war bonds.”

Learn more: Russian Flight to Cryptocurrency Hasn’t Happened, Analysis Shows

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battle lines, the prediction that Russians would turn to cryptocurrencies to get around the sanctions imposed after the invasion have seemingly not yet come to pass.

While bitcoin rallied earlier this week, there was no surge from Russian investors, with blockchain data indicating Russians haven’t been trading crypto on major exchanges.