Finance

Ukrainian govt seeks cryptocurrency donations to repel Russia invasion

Published

3 years ago

February 26, 2022

The Ukrainian government is seeking donations in cryptocurrency as the country seeks to repel the invasion by Russia..

The bitcoin and ethereum wallets listed by the government have already received around $3.6 million worth of crypto in total, with the ethereum wallet receiving just over $3 million in donations.

The official Twitter accounts of the Ukrainian government and Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov provided wallet addresses for donations of bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and the stablecoin tether (USDT).

Funds were initially trickling into the listed addresses over fears that the Ukrainian government account had been hacked. While Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed doubt as to the veracity of the appeals, the tweets came from verified accounts. Representatives for the Ukrainian government weren’t immediately available for comment and the country’s official website appeared to be down.

When this article was first published, the wallets contained about $435,000 in crypto but just over an hour later, the bitcoin wallet contained around $500,000 or 13 BTC, while the ethereum wallet had around $3.6 million or 1090 ETH in total. That may not be the total donated, however, as there are indications that some bitcoin has already been removed from the respective wallet.

This is not the first instance of using cryptocurrencies to aid Ukrainians in their battle against the Russian invasion. A digital wallet raising funds to support the Ukrainian army has received almost $6 million in bitcoin

Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.

BTC – 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P

ETH and USDT (ERC-20) – 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022

To follow up on @VitalikButerin's tweet, I've confirmed directly with Ukrainian Ambassador @olex_scherba that the addresses are correct and in the control of the Ukrainian govt. Give!!! Defending free and open societies may be the best thing we ever do with our BTC and ETH…
— Tomicah Tillemann 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@TomicahTD) February 26, 2022

Getting some confirmations from a couple sources that it's legit. Deleting my warning for now. But continue to be vigilant, and always be slow and careful when sending irreversible crypto transactions. https://t.co/Odv5pxf3mp
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 26, 2022