On Friday, Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation, said that his government had spent $15 million of crypto donations on military equipment such as protective vests. In a Zoom interview on Friday, he stated that the acquired military equipment was delivered on Friday from an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Since the start of the war with Russia, many individuals have donated cryptocurrencies to the Ukrainian government.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, tweeted on Friday that the Ukrainian government has raised $50 million in cryptocurrencies in less than a week. The majority of the donations were made in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). He now wants to raise $100 million, which would be triple the amount he has already raised.
The Crypto Fund of Ukraine raised $50M in crypto in a week to support #Ukraine 👊🏻 An incredible unity before Putin's encroachment on freedom and democracy. Aiming for $100M this week. We WILL win! 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 4, 2022
Bornyakov also stated that the Ukrainian government intends to use $50 million in bitcoin donations in the next two to three days. He claimed that his ministry discovered supplies for the army in the US and Europe two days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, including vests, food packages, bandages, and night vision gadgets. Furthermore, the deputy minister of digital transformation stated that around 40% of suppliers are eager to accept bitcoin payments. The remainder is paid in cryptocurrency, which is then turned into euros and dollars.
According to various news reports, the Ukrainian government is also collaborating with two media firms to create a non-fungible token (NFT) collection in order to acquire extra cash. Bornyakov commented, noting that it could be ready in as little as two weeks. No one was prepared to implement military NFTs; the battle only began eight days ago, and they are still figuring out how to achieve this in terms of design. In terms of donated NFTs, he verified that a Cryptopunk was given to him. But it’s so difficult to sell, he added. He stated that at the moment, we haven’t used it. We’ll keep it for the time being. zMaybe when things calm down, we’ll sort it out.
