Total crypto donations to the government of Ukraine wallet addresses, NGOs, and humanitarian initiatives had surpassed $108 million as of Wednesday. The top three recipients of such funds include the Ukrainian government’s official Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet addresses, as well as a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive.
Following Kraken and BAYC donations, Ukraine has received $108 million in cryptocurrency donations
On the same day, Kraken announced that consumers who created an account in Ukraine before March 9th will receive a donation of over $10 million to fund humanitarian operations. During the initial tranche of fund release, Kraken clients in the country will receive $1,000 in BTC, regardless of their account balance, which may be withdrawn instantly. The exchange also waived currency exchange fees for withdrawals of up to $1,000. Jesse Powell, the CEO of Kraken, stated: “Cryptocurrency remains an important humanitarian tool, especially at a time when many around the world can no longer rely on traditional banks and custodians.”
Kraken will distribute over $10 million worth of to aid clients in 🇺🇦Ukraine. Tranche 1 recipients will be credited $1000 of #BTC, withdrawable tomorrow. The package is funded by historical Ukraine revenues and H1 2022 revenues from Russia-based trading.https://t.co/DdkY2TsVoB
— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) March 9, 2022
In an emergency online briefing titled “Digital Resistance: How Ukraine is Leveraging Technology to Fight for Freedom,” Bornyakov added that more than $60 million of the $100 million was received in the principal fund administered by Kuna, the Ukrainian crypto exchange.
Bornyakov claims that the remaining assets have been allocated to a number of smaller funds.
In an appearance on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” on Tuesday, Bornyakov reiterated his plea that crypto businesses cease services to Russian users, as part of an unprecedented drive to cut Russia off from the global financial system.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, joined the cryptocurrency fundraising efforts for Ukraine on Wednesday. After collecting about $1 million in ETH from wallets containing a BAYC nonfungible coin, the designers of BAYC stated that they would match the donation with a $1 million ETH donation of their own.
It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to @Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own. 🦍♥️🇺🇦
— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 8, 2022
Another notable gift is Binance’s Emergency Relief Fund, which has received over $11.3 million in BTC, BNB, and Binance USD since its inception. Since its previous update on March 3, it appears that Kuna’s Crypto Fund of Ukraine has received around $14 million in key cryptocurrencies such as Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Candle (CNDL), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai.
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