Source: Twitter/@denise_derah
Crypto assets are proving to be a useful method of raising money for organizations in Ukraine, as banks implement new restrictive measures and at least one fundraising trust service has suspended donations to a Ukrainian nonprofit.
Given the current situation on the ground in Ukraine, there is no shortage of non-profit organizations and charities raising funds to support the Ukrainian people. However, until now, not everyone accepts cryptocurrencies, although the number of those who accept them is growing day by day due to circumstances that make fiat transfers difficult.
In particular, new measures introduced by the National Bank of Ukraine, the country's central bank, have made it much more difficult for Ukrainian organizations to rely on banks and traditional fiat money transfer systems.
Among the new rules is an order that suspends the issuance of electronic money and the replenishment of electronic wallets with electronic money. In addition, the country's foreign exchange market was suspended, with the official exchange rate of the national currency now fixed, while cash withdrawals were limited to 100.000 Ukrainian hryvnias (US$3.339) per day.
As an alternative, some in Ukraine, as well as people abroad looking to support the country, have turned to cryptocurrencies as a more effective solution.
According to a Cryptonews.com review, the following Ukrainian organizations accept bitcoins (BTC) or other crypto assets for donations (the list may grow as we discover more organizations):
In addition to these established organizations, members of the crypto community have joined forces in recent days to establish the following crypto-native organizations in support of Ukraine:
- UkraineDAO, launched by the famous Russian feminist punk protest group Pussy Riot and the NFT collectives Trippy Labs and PleasrDAO
- Unchain Foundation, a charity created by the Ukrainian blockchain community.
In addition, several other listings have also been shared online, although many listed organizations still do not accept crypto. Among these was the list shared on Twitter earlier Friday by bitcoin advocate and director of strategy for the Human Rights Foundation, Alex Gladstein.
Among the organizations that accept crypto donations, The Kyiv Independent installed its bitcoin wallet on Thursday this week. At the time of writing (14:30 UTC), the wallet has already received about 23 USD (000 BTC) in donations.
Meanwhile, Come Back Alive, the non-profit organization that supports the Ukrainian Armed Forces with equipment, received millions of dollars through its bitcoin donation wallet, with a single incoming transaction worth more than €3,1. .80 million (BTC 09) seen just before 00:XNUMX UTC. on Friday.
And while many nonprofit organizations accept cryptocurrency, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on its donations page that "national law does not allow" the use of bitcoin and fiat-based platforms like PayPal for government donations.
The National Bank also announced that it had opened a fundraising account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “Established and opened to receive transfers from international partners and donors,” and multiple currencies are accepted, the announcement says, naming USD, EUR, GBP and UAH.
The large donations were seen as fiat-based fundraising platform Patreon suspending a donation page for Come Back Alive, citing a violation of their policies.
"We do not allow the use of Patreon to fund weapons or military activities. It is a violation of our policies, so we have removed the page. Any funds remaining in the account will be refunded to backers," the company said in a statement. statement published today on its website.
The move drew criticism from members of the crypto community, with some comparing it to similar moves by crowdfunding sites GoFundMe and GiveSendGo to halt donations to the 'Trucker Convoy' protests in Canada over COVID-19 measures.
Meanwhile, some companies in the crypto world have also chosen to take matters into their own hands more directly.
Among them is FTX, the crypto exchange run by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, which said it doled out €25 to every Ukrainian FTX user. "Do what you have to do," the FTX boss added in a tweet announcing the move.