Bitcoin Donations Pour in to Help Ukrainian Military Fight Russia – After Russia launched a large-scale war on Ukraine, cryptocurrency donations flowed into a charity organization that gives support to Ukrainian soldiers. More than $5 million in bitcoin has already been raised. Also, the group’s Patreon funding page has been disabled.
After Russia launched a large-scale offensive against Ukraine, Come Back Alive, one of the main non-governmental organizations (NGOs) offering support to Ukraine’s military, received over $5 million in bitcoin donations.
The Kyiv-based organization, which was founded in 2014, provides military equipment, medical supplies, and training services to Ukrainian soldiers.
Donations to the BTC address listed on the organization’s website increased after Russia launched a full-scale military strike on Ukraine on Thursday. The wallet address has received 131.78144015 BTC at the time of writing.
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According to a review of all donations to the address from Feb. 24 to late Feb. 25, 2,207 donations totaling 126.04304091 BTC was received. The donations collected since Feb. 24 are worth more than $5 million, depending on the current bitcoin price of $39,676.51.
On Feb. 23, the wallet only received 1.60976481 BTC (76 donations), while on Feb. 22, it only received 0.42272864 BTC (25 donations).
Tom Robinson, the chief scientist and co-founder of the blockchain analytics platform Elliptic, tweeted on Thursday:
“Donations to the Ukrainian armed forces in cryptocurrency are on the rise.”
He was reported by CNBC as saying, “Cryptocurrency is increasingly being used to crowdfund war, with the tacit agreement of governments.”
Elliptic also looked into the donations that Come Back Alive had received. According to the company, the NGO received more than $675,000 in bitcoin on February 24 and more than $3.4 million by 9:30 a.m. on February 25.
“This brings the amount the group has raised in just 24 hours to nearly $4 million,” the firm noted, noting that a single donor gave over $3 million (80 BTC).
In 2018, the group Come Back Alive began accepting bitcoin donations. According to Elliptic, BTC donations have been rising recently, with approximately $200K collected in the second half of 2021.
The platform published a report earlier this month revealing that donations of digital assets to Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer groups increased by 900% last year.
Meanwhile, the platform has taken down Come Back Alive’s Patreon fundraising page.
Come Back Alive Director Taras Chmut told CNBC in an interview that the group had been getting small amounts from its Patreon page for several months before receiving over $300,000 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
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When he went to transfer the funds to pay for equipment, he discovered that his organization’s Patreon page had been taken down. He contacted the platform, which stated that it was investigating the matter.
A spokesman for Patreon told CNBC:
Regardless of the reason, Patreon does not accept any campaigns that include violence or the purchase of military weaponry.