Donated Crypto Assets Distributed to Ukrainian Army, Volunteers

Whitepay, a fundraising platform launched to help Ukraine, reported it had raised $2 million of stablecoin tether (USTD), according to Arab News.

The donated crypto currencies have been sent to the Ukrainian army to treat wounded soldiers and to a humanitarian fund that finances volunteers.

Whitepay was founded by Whitebit, the Estonia-based cryptocurrency exchange, and Gleb Udovychenko, the Ukrainian FinTech and crypto entrepreneur.

Udovychenko insisted the Ukrainians will fight on until Russian forces leave the country, Bcoin.com reported.

“Yes, I’m in Ukraine,” he wrote on Telegram. “Yes, it’s a real war here. People are fighting on the streets and are supporting each other. Our military and territorial defense will fight until all Russian invaders have left our country.”

Whitepay’s donations follow $20 million in donations in bitcoin and ethereum in the wake of Russia’s invasion of the country. The donations consisted of $9.4 million in bitcoin contributions and $10.6 million in ethereum, according to Decrypt, which cited blockchain networks.

Read more: Ukraine Receives $20M From Bitcoin, Ethereum Donors

Two days after the invasion began, the Ukrainian government had asked for crypto donations on Twitter, sharing bitcoin and ethereum wallet addresses.

It has since said it would accept polkadot donations, prompting its founder Gavin Wood to donate $5.8 million in his currency.

These donations are part of a wider wave of cryptocurrency donations to help Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues. Blockchain analytics platform Elliptic said the Ukrainian government has raised $35 million through more than 35,000 crypto donors.

Ukraine has also received $7.2 million in unspecified cryptocurrency from the Ukrainian NGO Come Back Alive, while a fundraiser called Support Ukrainian Sovereignty said it has raised around $560,000.

Also, last week Ukraine announced plans to issue its own nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection, capitalizing on the wave of cryptocurrency donations.