The power of cryptocurrencies in the war in Ukraine
Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, announced on Saturday that his government accepted cryptocurrency donations, in order to support his people against the Russian invasion. With Ukrainians being limited on fiat currency and not having access to physical banks, we fully grasp the strength of Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto-assets in their potential to help a population in need.
At first, Vitalik Buterin, the originator of Ethereum (ETH) called for caution regarding a possible hacking of the Ukrainian government’s social networks, before confirming that the addresses were authentic. A precaution worth remembering in this particular context where many scams could flourish.
To receive donations, the government has made addresses available on 3 different blockchains :
- Bitcoin (BTC): 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P ;
- Ethereum (ETH): 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14;
- Tron (TRX) for USDT TRC20: TEFccmfQ38cZS1DTZVhsxKVDckA8Y6VfCy .
Stand with the people of Ukraine
Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Ethereum. Bitcoin and Tether (USDTtrc20)BTC — 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P
ETH — 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14
USDT (trc20) — TEFccmfQ38cZS1DTZVhsxKVDckA8Y6VfCy
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022
Since then, thousands of donations have poured in to represent at the time of writing this article nearly $11.4 million:
- Bitcoin Network (BTC), $4 million in bitcoins;
- Ethereum (ETH) network, $6.4 million worth of ethers and altcoins;
- TRC20 Network, for $1 million in USDT donations.
Note this says that the funds from the TRC20 network then seem to be transferred back to this address which has $8.3 million in USDT and TRX.
Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron (TRX) ecosystem donated 200,000 USDT himself. Two anonymous donors have meanwhile sent 26 and 20 bitcoinsor respectively $1 million and $780,000.
One of the big advantages of our ecosystem is its public environment. This allows us to trace the funds, which is not possible with other financial technologies for an average citizen. But some may remember the words of Christine Lagarde on September 16:
“Cryptos are not currencies. Point bar. »
However, where traditional transfers would have taken several days to arrive, Ukraine has cryptocurrencies an almost instant cash injection, and whose proper use can be verified by anyone. A fact far from the negative image that is regularly lent to crypto-assets, although we would have liked not to demonstrate it in the context of an armed conflict.
? Learn the basics of tracking a transaction on the blockchain
Sources: btc.com, etherscan.io, tronscan.org
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