Cryptocurrency donations sent to the Ukrainian government and several non-governmental organizations meant to support the country amidst its ongoing war with Russia have topped $50 million across more than 100,000 transactions.
According to on-chain analytics firm Elliptic, the Ukrainian government and NGOs supporting the country’s military efforts and humanitarian causes have kept on receiving cryptocurrency donations ever since the Ukrainian government’s official Twitter account shared wallet addresses for $BTC and $ETH.
Since then, the scope of cryptoassets the country has been receiving expanded to include meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin ($DOGE), Polkadot ($DOT), Solana ($SOL), Binance Coin ($BNB), and others.
According to a tweet shared by Michael Chobanian, CEO of Ukranian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna which, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been supporting Ukraine’s cryptocurrency fundraising efforts, the $50 million mark was breached with mostly tokens on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, with a $5.7 million contribution from Polkadot’s founder Gavin Wood helping DOT stand out.
These donations were supported by other fundraising methods, such as that of UkraineDAO. The decentralized autonomous organization auctioned off a non-fungible token (NFT) of the Ukrainian flag for millions in ETH, and is set to donate the funds to an NGO.
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has also pledged to donate $10 million to “help the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.” Donations in cryptocurrency are valuable because the prices of local fiat currencies have been fluctuating heavily ever since President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine that has been deemed an invasion.
As CryptoGlobe reported, Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna has seen its trading volume explode after Russia’s invasion was launched. On average the exchange’s trading volume was hovering around 45 million Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH) per day. On the day Russian forces entered Ukraine, its trading volume exploded to 150 million UAH, equivalent to around $5 million.
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