Crypto assets involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a ray of light in a critical moment?

On February 24, the day the Ukrainian-Russian conflict broke out, the crypto asset market plummeted. The pillar asset, Bitcoin, once dropped to $34,222, a drop of nearly 10% on the day. Its safe-haven asset, known as "digital gold", is questionable. .

However, 2 days later, mainstream crypto assets such as Bitcoin were directly linked to the war. On February 26, Ukraine’s official verified Twitter account posted and pinned a request for donations of encrypted assets, listing the addresses of bitcoin, ethereum, and the US dollar stablecoin USDT that accept donations. In addition, there are NGOs that are raising funds for Ukraine.

According to data from blockchain data analysis firm Elliptic, as of 16:00 UTC on February 28, the Ukrainian government and NGOs supporting the military had raised $22.2 million through more than 23,000 donations of crypto assets.

Affected by the situation, Russia, on the other side of the war, is experiencing great volatility in the financial market. On February 28, the ruble depreciated by 30% against the dollar at one point, and the Russian central bank raised the benchmark interest rate to 20% in an emergency. In the context of the sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries such as the United States, the voices of the outside world discussing whether "encrypted assets can help Russia evade sanctions" continue to emerge.

$22.2 million in crypto assets entered into Ukraine

"Stand with the Ukrainian people and now accept cryptocurrency donations." On February 26, when the official Ukrainian Twitter account posted the donation addresses of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and the US dollar stable currency USDT, netizens Thought it was a scam, the authenticity of the addresses was not confirmed until Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, retweeted it.

Elliptic, a blockchain data analytics firm, has been tracking the flow of crypto assets at the addresses since the addresses were posted. As of Feb. 28, addresses listed on the Ukrainian Twitter account have received $14.8 million in crypto assets from 18,561 transactions, including two bitcoin donations worth a total of $1.7 million.

In addition to Ukrainian officials receiving donations, Come Back Alive, a pro-Ukrainian NGO, has also received millions of dollars in donations in crypto assets. On February 24, the organization had raised funds for the Ukrainian army on the content creation fundraising platform Patreon, but the platform shut down the fundraising page of Come Back Alive on the grounds of "violating policies due to military activities".

Another token project called "Help Ukraine" is also raising funds, and it has been donating ETH to a fundraiser called Support Ukrainian Sovereignty, which promises to distribute its funds to various Ukrainian charities. $281,769 has been raised.