Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies are finding a new purpose in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Crypto holders across the globe have come together to raise about $19 million in cryptocurrency to aid Ukraine, as it faces a military attack by its neighbouring state.
With its tech-savvy population, Ukraine ranks among the nations with the highest adoption rate for cryptocurrencies. As the country now faces an invasion that threatens its conventional banking network, it has turned to cryptocurrencies to back the relief efforts for its citizens. A pinned tweet on the country's official Twitter handle urges people to donate Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT to support the cause.
"Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT," it reads.
A number of entities associated with cryptocurrencies have responded to the call for help. Among the prominent ones, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin criticized the invasion in a recent tweet. He then followed up by sharing a range of ongoing relief efforts by the crypto community and urging people to donate to these.
As mentioned in a recent report by The Verge, one such humanitarian relief fund is being raised by Unchain.fund. The charity project has been created by blockchain activists in an attempt to "support Ukraine with humanitarian aid." In a tweet, Illia Polosukhin, cofounder of NEAR Protocol, a decentralized application (dApp) platform and a competitor to Ethereum, highlighted how Unchain.fund is funding people across Kyiv, Lviv, and other cities in Ukraine. "They are buying medicine, food, and protection," he wrote.
UkraineDAO, yet another fundraising campaign is urging people to donate as well as holding auctions of its own to raise money. In a tweet, it mentions that the proceeds from this charity go towards "civilians who help those suffering from the war." RELI3F is another such humanitarian aid initiative that has been started by a group of NFT artists.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are also doing their bit. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, tweeted last week that the company will be giving out $25 to each Ukrainian user on FTX. In total, all these efforts have raised up to $18.9 million in relief funds for war-hit Ukraine, as per data by Elliptic, a blockchain analysis provider.
The relief efforts are not just monetary. Ukraine United DAO, for instance, also wishes to create peer-to-peer mesh networks which will help retain internet connectivity in the country, even if the centralized internet service providers are hit by the attack.
Cryptocurrencies have historically been used for numerous humanitarian efforts and charitable causes. In fact, some like Saveplanetearth.io and Anji.eco were even created solely for this purpose. Cryptocurrencies inherently eliminate the roadblocks associated with money flow through the banks. While this may not be visible on a regular day, extreme situations can make a critical difference in money flow for a region's residents. Ukraine is looking to leverage this now, as its existing financial infrastructure risks collapse.
There are other benefits to cryptocurrency donations. Their existence on the blockchain means that the funds can be traced at all times. Any unused funds can thus be returned or redirected. Also, most cryptocurrencies have their own communities, which can make a huge collective difference in terms of money raised through such fundraisers.
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