Ukrainian officials announce that they have raised $50 Million in cryptocurrency within one week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To date, the government has spent $15 million on donated cryptocurrency for military supplies.
Ukraine spends $15M in Crypto for Military Supplies
Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation, revealed Friday that his government has spent $15 million in donated cryptocurrency on military supplies, including bulletproof vests, Bloomberg reported. Zoom interviewed Alex Bornyakov from an unidentified Ukrainian location and confirmed the delivery of his purchased military gear.
Numerous people donated cryptocurrency to Ukraine since the start of the conflict with Russia.
Mykhailo Fedorov is the vice prime Minister of Ukraine and minister of digital transform. He tweeted on Friday that the Ukrainian government had received $50 million in cryptocurrency just one week. The majority of donations came in Bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrency. He is now aiming to raise $100 million.
Bloomberg also reported that Bornyakov said the Ukrainian government expected to double its cryptocurrency donations of $50 million within two or three days.
His ministry had found supplies in Europe and the U.S. for his army two days before Russia invaded Ukraine. This included vests, food packets and night vision equipment.
The deputy minister for digital transformation also noted that around 40% of suppliers were willing to accept cryptocurrency payments. All the rest of them are paid using crypto that has been converted into dollars or euros.
Two companies are also being worked with by the ministry to create a non-fungible token (NFT), to help raise additional funds. The publication provides more details.
Bornyakov suggested that the product could be available in as little as two weeks.
Although no one was prepared to perform military NFTs at the time of war, it started only eight days ago.
Concerning the donated NFTs, it was confirmed by him that someone had donated a cryptopunk. However, he added: “But it’s so hard to sell. We haven’t used it at this point … We are going to keep it for now. … There’s no time to figure out how to convert them. Maybe once things settle down, we’ll figure this out.”
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