Ukraine Crypto Crowdfunding Effort Hits $20 Million: Report

Cryptocurrency donations sent to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion have now exceeded $20 million, according to blockchain analytics platform Elliptic. 

“The Ukrainian government, and NGOs providing support to the military, have raised $20 million through thousands of cryptocurrency donations since the start of the invasion,” Elliptic said on a blog post tracking the donations. 

It added that one NGO received a single Bitcoin donation worth $3 million. 

Earlier this week, the Ukrainian government’s official Twitter account announced that the government was “now accepting cryptocurrency donations” in a tweet sharing a Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet address. 

According to blockchain records, those two addresses have received approximately $4.6 and $5.6 million respectively. 

The shortfall, Elliptic told Decrypt, has come from an additional $3 million sent to a TRON address, and the Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive, which has raised $7.2 million to date. 

Fundraising for Ukraine

Crypto donations to Ukraine are flooding in from all directions, including a newly established decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. 

UkraineDAO, a DAO established to raise funds for Ukraine, was announced earlier this week by Nadya Tolokonnikova, also known as a founding member of the “conceptual protest art group” Pussy Riot. 

“Our goal is to raise funds to donate to Ukrainian civilian organizations who help those suffering from the war that Putin started in Ukraine,” Tolokonnikova tweeted.  She also told Decrypt this is “much bigger than all of us, it’s a pure gesture of solidarity.” 

Additional sources of donated income include a fundraiser called Support Ukrainian Sovereignty, which claims to have raised over $280,000 to date. Per Elliptic, the group has received funds from a separate Ethereum token project called Help Ukraine ($HUKR). 

Despite the legitimate fundraising platforms being used to send funds to Ukraine, Elliptic also warns against scammers that “appear to be taking advantage of the current situation.” 

“Elliptic has identified a number of fraudulent crypto fundraising scams, exploiting the current situation,” the blog post adds.