Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia began on Thursday, February 24, 2022, the former has secured 102,000 crypto asset donations, which totaled $54.7 million.
The $54.7 million worth of crypto donations, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, have gone to the Ukrainian government and Come Back Alive, a non-government organisation providing support to the military.
Parts of the donations include the $5.8 million from Gavin Wood, the founder of polkadot, a lesser-known cryptocurrency.
It was gathered that donations picked up this week, with around 72,000 of these donations coming in the past two days.
Thus far, the contributions consist of $18.2 million in ether, $17.2 million in bitcoin, and $9.5 million in a mix of the US dollar-pegged stablecoins, including an anonymous donation of $1 million in tether, a controversial token designed to be pegged to the US dollar.
However, in a deliberate move to seek more funding in cushioning the effect of the war, Ukraine via its Twitter handles solicited crypto donations for the first time.
According to Elliptic, the bitcoin, ethereum, tron, polkadot, dogecoin, and solana addresses listed in a tweets series of tweets by the Ukrainian government, have received no less than 96,000 crypto donations, with a total value of $46.7 million going directly to the government.
“Cryptocurrency is particularly suited to international fundraising because it doesn’t respect national boundaries and it’s censorship-resistant — there is no central authority that can block transactions, for example in response to sanctions,” Elliptic’s chief scientist, Tom Robinson stated as he commented on the development.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry had announced a ceasefire to allow residents of two besieged cities, Mariupol and Volnovakha, to evacuate.
“Today, March 5, from 10 am Moscow time, the Russian side declares a regime of silence and opens humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha,” the defence ministry stated.
