On Thursday, Russian President, Vladimir Putin announced the war on Ukraine. Hence the country receives support in various ways. Recently Ukrainian army received donations in cryptocurrencies as support amounting to $400,000 worth of digital tokens. From Ukraine’s view, donation is urgently needed.

According to data from Elliptic, which is a United Kingdom-based blockchain and crypto analytics firm, more than $400,000 worth of Bitcoins has been donated in a day to support just one group of Ukraine’s military group. This amount was given to a Ukrainian NGO, Come Back Alive that raises cryptocurrency funds for the Ukrainian army. As per reports, in the last two days, the group received a minimum of 317 individual donations. The average amount donated is around $1,000 to $2,000. The contribution also came from Pro-Ukraine groups and pro-crypto communities on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. To accept donations for its troops in legal currencies Ukraine's Ministry of Defence set up a designated bank account.

As per Jess Symington, the research lead at U.K-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, “This group provides support to the Ukrainian army by supporting their soldiers. They have received very, very small amounts of donations since August 2021- not very much at all; maybe like $4 or $5K a month. And then suddenly it just shot up starting about the 22nd of February.” According to Obasi Francis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DSpace, crypto markets across the globe have experienced a panic sell as expected.

Analysis from Elliptic reflects hundreds of crypto-asset donations totaling several hundred thousand dollars have been made to these groups increased by over 900 percent in 2021. It has identified many cryptocurrency wallets used by volunteer groups and NGOs and the fund they received total over $570,000. Over 2021, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance received Bitcoin donations amounting to $100,000. In the coming days, Elliptic is planning to go further deep into the source of the donation.

Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine affected prices of Cryptocurrency making it to fell deep in the past two weeks. In response to Putin's specific military strike against Ukraine, the market has lost $150 billion in value. The price of bitcoin fell below $35,000 soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine. 

Indrani bose

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA