Crypto Donations to Ukraine Exceed $100 Million as Kraken and BAYC Join In

Two weeks into the Russia-Ukraine War, total crypto donations across Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities and relief efforts have passed US$108 million.

Ukrainian Clients of Kraken to Receive $1,000 in BTC

On March 9, Kraken announced it would distribute over US$10 million for relief efforts to clients who created an account from Ukraine prior to that date. Those clients will each receive US$1,000 in bitcoin during the first tranche of funds disbursement, which can be withdrawn immediately. The exchange also waived currency exchange fees for withdrawals of up to US$1,000.

Kraken will distribute over $10 million worth of to aid clients in 🇺🇦Ukraine. Tranche 1 recipients will be credited $1000 of #BTC, withdrawable tomorrow. The package is funded by historical Ukraine revenues and H1 2022 revenues from Russia-based trading.https://t.co/DdkY2TsVoB

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) March 9, 2022

BAYC Developers Match Contribution

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has also pitched in on the fundraising effort. After collecting nearly US$1 million in ETH from wallets containing a BAYC non-fungible token (NFT), the developers behind BAYC said it would match the contribution with a US$1 million ETH donation of their own.

It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to @Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own. 🦍♥️🇺🇦

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 8, 2022

Good News Follows Bad

Both these pieces of good news come after the cancellation of a planned airdrop from the Ukrainian government earlier this week, accompanied by a spate of scams looking to capitalise on the crypto community’s generosity.

Last week, an NFT of the Ukrainian flag was sold for 2,258 ether – about US$6.75 million – with the proceeds directed to ‘Come Back Alive’, an organisation that donates supplies to Ukrainian civilians and members of the military.

In other donations news, Binance’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund has received over US$11.3 million in various cryptocurrencies since its inception. Kuna’s Crypto Fund of Ukraine has also accepted over US$14 million in major altcoins such as Polkadot, Tether, Candle, USD Coin and Dai.

Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, says that cryptocurrencies have been “essential in this conflict, in terms of helping our army”. 

In a situation like this where the national bank is not really operating, crypto is helping to perform fast transfers, to make it very quick and get results almost immediately.

Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation