13 million dollars of Bitcoin has been donated to aid Ukraine in fight against Russia, says experts

Cryptocurrency experts estimate that $13.7 million worth of Bitcoin has been donated to aid Ukraine after they were invaded by Russia.

Researchers at Elliptic, a blockchain analysis company, say that millions of dollars have been raised anonymously after the Ukrainian government, NGOs and grassroot groups put their Bitcoin wallets online.

Tom Robinson, the company’s founder told the BBC: "Whereas some crowdfunding and payments companies have refused to allow donations to be made to groups supporting the Ukrainian military, cryptocurrencies have emerged as a powerful alternative."

Roughly 4,000 payments have been made - with a median donation of $95 -, such as the $3 million secret donation to a NGO.

On Saturday (26.02.22), the Ukrainian government - via their official Twitter account - appealed for donations after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, began an full-scale invasion of the country after weeks of speculation he would.

The government - which is led by President Volodymyr Zelensky - wrote: "Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT."

They asked for donations to “help Ukraine armed forces” but gave no more detail as to what it would go through.

Patreon - a crowdfunding platform - blocked the page ‘Come Back Alive’’, a Ukrainian NGO, citing that they “don’t allow Patreon to be used for funding weapons or military activity.”

The trend of donations to aid the war effort in Ukraine comes as cryptocurrency becoming a popular method of modern conflict. However, scammers have been taking advantage as Elliptic highlighted one user putting their personal wallet, as opposed to the groups.

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