Ukraine has become the first nation-state in history to formally accept Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies to finance the costs of a war.
The official Twitter account of Ukraine published a message with their virtual wallet addresses to receive donations in cryptocurrencies.
According to a publication on the official Ukrainian Twitter account, this country accepts BTC, ether (ETH), and the stablecoin or stable currency Tether (USDT, in its version of the Ethereum network), so that the world can support this country in the context of the war against Russia.
In addition, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, and Minister of Digital Transformation, announced that besides Bitcoin and ether, they also accepted crypto tether as donations on the Tron network version.
In light of this announcement, Tron founder Justin Sun announced that he had donated close to $200,000 (USD) to the direction arranged by the minister.
On Saturday, the country’s official account published its wallets: Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, claimed to have confirmed with the Ukrainian authorities the veracity of the addresses shown to receive donations. Nevertheless, he was cautious, as he called for caution when donating since bad actors could pose as the legitimate owners of these bags.
Along the same lines, some users reported that Bitcoins have been sent from the Ukrainian government address to an address labeled as fraudulent.
Others claim that this address in question belongs to a Kuna name exchange house and that in the past was part of some cryptocurrency fraud that has nothing to do with Ukraine.
Ukraine was already Receiving Crypto Donations
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s camp, much more limited in number and capacity than Vladimir Putin’s, has received more than $4 million in crypto through Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO.
As reported by the organization, during the first 12 hours of Thursday alone, donors sent nearly $675,000 in Bitcoins. However, a donation of 3 million dollars in crypto assets from an anonymous supporter triggered the NGO’s collection on Friday.
“Cryptocurrency is particularly well-suited for international fundraising as it does not respect national borders and is able to resist blockages – there is no central authority that can block transactions, for example in response to sanctions,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist at Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
Cryptocurrency Tycoon and a Punk Band Make Crypto Donations
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, a Bahamas-based crypto asset-trading platform, has also joined the cause. In this case, the crypto tycoon announced that he would donate $25 to all Ukrainian users of his app. “Do what you have to do,” Bankman added in his announcement on Twitter.
On the other hand, a Russian punk band, known for its opposition to the Putin government, has also given its support through its UkraineDAO platform. Pussy Riot recently launched this app in order to raise funds for civil organizations, such as Kiev Come Back Alive and Proliska, which works to help civilians in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Likewise, crowdfunding campaigns are proliferating all over the world, starting with the traditional Facebook fundraisers and ending with organizations that have become very popular in recent times, the DAOs.
Decentralized autonomous organizations, hence their name, for its acronym in English. The Blockchain control these non-profit entities, and their intention is to collect donations in the form of cryptocurrencies, indicated El Economista.
Does the War Force a Change of Position against Bitcoin?
The decision announced by the Ukrainian government could mean a change of position towards cryptocurrencies.
On the portal where the Ukrainian military invited donations a few days ago, they stated that they could not accept cryptocurrencies or money from other payment methods other than bank transfers. Due to the recent events that started last February 24, this has changed.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, the Ministry of Defense had to handle requests from the cryptocurrency community to make provisions for accepting cryptocurrency donations – which was previously unavailable.
By Audy Castaneda
