It has been 176 days since Russia waged war against Ukraine. This war forced nearly 10 million people out of their homes, while 6 million sought refuge in foreign lands. Although the Ukrainians did not trigger this war, they are the ones bravely facing it but also seeing their motherland turn to dust. In these difficult situations, Ukrainian officials turned to crypto asset donations and were met with incredible support.
As per data provided by the live tracker for crypto donations going to Ukraine, daily donations surpassed $100 million by 17th March and as of 8th April, this value stood at $114 million.
On one hand, Russia thought of handicapping Ukraine’s financial system using its military and cyberattacks. The crypto aid wasn’t far away. According to the latest data collated by CoinTelegraph and Elliptic, Ethereum was the most donated asset, marking 33.7% of the pie. Bitcoin followed with 31.2% of the share, Stablecoin [17%], and Polkadot [14.5%].
While the traditional financial stability evades the country, Ukrainians were now using the crypto assets to flee the war and survive. However, how much of the donated sums are being used to help the people?
Aid For Ukraine
According to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, $54 million of the country’s crypto donations have been spent. Fedorov offered an overview of this spending while thanking the crypto community for supporting them. The Vice Prime minister noted they had utilized the funds to provide their defender’s supplies like military equipment, armor clothes, medicines, and other things.
Undoubtedly, the primary resources to survive a war were to equip themselves with armor vests, military clothing, UAVs, and field rations. As noted in the report, nearly $11.8 million was spent on drones, which was its highest spent. It was followed by $6.9 million in armored vests and $5.7 million in computer hardware and software.
Although non-lethal, crypto donations have helped Ukraine defend itself against the Russians. However, it also bodes the question of public aid. Since a heavy sum has been allocated for defense, the government spent merely $1.3 million on medicines and $1.1 million on military medical kits. This was staggering compared to the $5.2 million spent on the Worldwide anti-war media campaign.
Ukraine has been transparent about its spending on the donated amount because the situation demands it. It is interesting to see virtual currencies’ progress in supporting a nation in turmoil and writing history beside it. War is never the answer, but what can one do when forced into one? All we can hope is Ukraine becomes stronger after this, and the next round of crypto donations will be to build a nation and not destroy another.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,
“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”