Ukraine Is Asking for Bitcoin and Ethereum Donations

“Stand with the people of Ukraine,” a government official’s tweet read. 

Ukraine Requests Crypto Donations  

Ukraine is seeking cryptocurrency donations to help fight against Russia’s attack. 

The eastern European country’s official Twitter account posted a tweet earlier today announcing that it was now accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether with links to a Bitcoin and Ethereum address. The address has now received 9.2 Bitcoin (around $361,000), 83 Ethereum (around $232,000) and around $20,000 worth of other digital assets. 

The tweet initially drew skepticism as some suspected that Ukraine’s account may have been hacked. Vitalik Buterin warned against sending any crypto donations in a tweet, commenting that the request “could easily be a hack.” 

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov also tweeted out the two cryptocurrency addresses earlier today, which suggests that the request could be legitimate unless hackers successfully targeted both accounts. “Stand with the people of Ukraine,” the tweets from both accounts read. Fedorov also shared the address on a verified Telegram channel. 

Crypto users have raised millions of dollars for Ukraine over the last few days following Russia’s military strike. An NGO called Come Back Alive has already received $5.8 million in Bitcoin, while Ethereum enthusiasts have launched a DAO called UkraineDAO in a bid to raise funds. Notably, the Ministry of Defense is not legally permitted to accept crypto. 

Early Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had ordered an attack on Ukraine following weeks of tension. Explosions have since been heard across Kyiv and other major cities and Ukrainians have assembled with artillery to fight off the Russian military. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared marital law following the strike and has called on countries overseas to fight off the attack. He was pictured on the ground in Kyiv today. 

Protests are taking place in major cities around the world today in solidarity with Ukraine. On Friday, it was reported that over 1,700 protestors had been arrested in Russia. 

The crypto community has also decried Russia’s attack on Ukraine over the last few days. Sam Bankman-Fried, Vitalik Buterin, and others spoke out against the conflict this week. “Reminder: Ethereum is neutral, but I am not,” Buterin tweeted after declaring that he was “very upset by Putin’s decision” in a tweet written in Russian. 

16:47 UTC update: The PR team for the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine responded to Crypto Briefing in an email to confirm that the request is legitimate. “Yes, we confirm — the communications channels of the Ministry Of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Minister Mykhailo Fedorov are secure. We are not hacked” the message read.

19:18 UTC update: The Bitcoin address has now received 18.7 Bitcoin worth $733,000, and the Ethereum address has received over 1,200 Ethereum worth $3.4 million plus about $236,000 in other digital assets. That brings the total to around $4.37 million.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.