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Ukraine's official Twitter account made the appeal for
cryptocurrency donations on Saturday following the country's
invasion by Russia, posting digital wallets addresses for tokens
including bitcoin and ether.
Ukraine's Vice-Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted the
wallet addresses. "Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now
accepting cryptocurrency donations," wrote Fedorov, who is also
minister of digital transformation.
The donations came as Russian forces seized two small cities in
southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant,
the Interfax news agency said, but ran into stiff resistance
elsewhere as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation
deepened.
By 08:50 GMT Monday, the wallet addresses had received crypto
worth $12.8 million across almost 17,300 donations, London-based
Elliptic said. The company tracks the movement of digital coins
on the blockchain, a public ledger that records crypto
transactions.
Ukraine's ministry of digital transformation confirmed the
tweets were genuine and added: "How will we use money? To
destroy as much Russian soldiers as possible."
Its crypto crowdfunding appeal is unprecedented. Though some
states, notably El Salvador, has embraced cryptocurrencies,
Ukraine's appeal for direct donations is among the first of its
kind.
Crypto donations to Ukrainian volunteer and hacking groups have
also spiked since Russia launched its invasion on Thursday,
Elliptic said this week.
The donations to such groups, some of which have supplied
equipment to government forces, grew strongly in January as
Russia massed troops near Ukraine's border ahead of its
invasion.
(Reporting by Tom Wilson, editing by Ed Osmond and John
Stonestreet)
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