Ukraine has raised $100 million in crypto donations

Ukraine has received about $100 million worth of crypto donations, according to CoinDesk. The country also partnered with FT and Everstake to launch a new crypto donation website. FTX is converting crypto contributions to Ukraine’s war effort into fiat for deposit at the National Bank of Ukraine.

Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation, revealed that over $60 million of the funds had been sent to the main fund run by Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna.

The rest of the funds have been sent to several smaller funds, Bornyakov said in an emergency online briefing entitled “Digital Resistance: How Ukraine Is Leveraging Technology to Fight for Freedom.”

“Crypto assets proved extremely helpful in the facilitation of funding flows to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Huge thanks to everyone who donated to the Crypto Fund of Ukraine,” Bornyakov tweeted on March 11. “Each and every helmet and vest bought via crypto donations is currently saving Ukrainian soldiers’ lives.”

The donations funded the purchase of 5,550 bulletproof vests, 410,000 packed lunches, 500 helmets, and 60 walkie-talkies, besides thousands of medicines and thermal devices, according to data shared by Bornyakov.

Ukraine first began accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) donations last month following Russia’s invasion. The country has since added Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), Tether (USDT), and Dogecoin (DOGE) to its list of accepted cryptocurrencies.

It also plans to raise funds by selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The upcoming NFT drop will feature art representing a story from trusted news sources about the war with Russia, The Guardian reported on Sunday.

According to Bornyakov, the NFT collection will be “like a museum of the Russian-Ukrainian war. We want to tell the world in NFT format.”

“We want it to be cool, good-looking, and it takes time,” he claimed.

On Monday, the Ukrainian government launched a new crypto donations website, streamlining its multimillion-dollar effort to turn Bitcoin into bullets, bandages, and other war material.

“Aid for Ukraine,” which has the backing of crypto exchange FTX, staking platform Everstake and Ukraine’s Kuna exchange, will route donated crypto to the National Bank of Ukraine, Everstake’s Head of Growth Vlad Likhuta told CoinDesk. Ukraine’s crypto-savvy Ministry of Digital Transformation is also involved.