During the year of full-scale war, Ukraine has attracted more cryptocurrencies than russia – study
Following the attack of russian troops on February 24, 2022, both russia and Ukraine used blockchain technology to ensure funding for their military efforts, reports Elliptic (a company engaged in blockchain criminalistics). The study is based on data collected over the last year.
On the anniversary of a full-scale invasion, the company stated that “many companies tried to use the basic development of a crypto-ecosystem to raise funds – from decentralized funding (Defi) to cryptocurrency pre-paid cards.” Digital cash was used for various purposes, from humanitarian needs to financing groups that were sanctioned.
The analysis of transactions tracked by Elliptic shows that most of the money – $212.1 million in crypto assets – went into support of Ukraine. Anti-government organizations in Belarus raised $ 0.7 million.
The pro-russian groups have raised about $4.8 million for the russian military. According to the report, more than 10% of these donations came from illegal sources. Among them are Darknet Markets, entities that have been sanctioned, and sellers of stolen credit cards. At the same time, less than 2% of cryptocurrency donated to Ukraine comes from such sources.
Many cryptocurrency financing initiatives have been supported or initiated by the government, which received $83.3 million in their wallets. Defi, NFT, and DAO played a significant role in promoting cryptocurrencies for Ukraine, attracting more than $78 million in donations, emphasizes Elliptic and adds that russia’s attempts to repeat Ukraine’s success in this activity have failed.
Speaking in The Crypto Mile podcast on Yahoo Finance UK, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation in IT sphere development Oleksandr Bornyakov said that Ukraine buys military equipment with cryptocurrency, and claims that 60% of suppliers are paying in digital currencies to provide Ukraine with first-need things such as helmets and bulletproof vests.
According to the report, more than 100,000 people sent cryptocurrency to Ukraine, and Bornyakov said the donations had varied “from one dollar to millions of dollars”. He noted that Ukraine turned to cryptocurrencies at the beginning of the war because it needed immediate assistance.