Two weeks into the Russo-Ukrainian War, donations continue to pour in from generous blockchain enthusiasts worldwide.
On Wednesday, total crypto donations across Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities and relief efforts tracked by Cointelegraph has reached $108 million. The top three recipients of such funds are the official Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet addresses of the Ukrainian government, and a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive.
The same day, Kraken announced that it would distribute over $10 million to clients who created an account from Ukraine before Mar 9 for relief efforts. Regardless of their account balance, Ukrainian clients of Kraken will receive $1,000 in BTC each during the first tranche of fund disbursement, which ca be withdrawn immediately. The exchange also waived currency exchange fees for withdrawals of up to $1,000. Jesse Powell, Kraken’s CEO, gave the following remarks regarding the aid package:
“Cryptocurrency remains an important humanitarian tool, especially at a time when many around the world can no longer rely on traditional banks and custodians.”
Funds will be distributed throughout the year, in part to give Ukrainian residents time to complete Kraken’s “intermediate” Know-Your-Customer verification process. Perhaps ironically, fees collected from Russia-based Kraken accounts will partly fund the aid package.
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
Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, also joined in on the crypto fundraising efforts for Ukraine on Wednesday. After collecting nearly $1 million in ETH from wallets containing a BAYC nonfungible token, the developers behind BAYC said it would match the contribution with a $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
Other notable contributions include Binance’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund, which has received over $11.3 million in BTC, BNB and Binance USD since inception. In addition, during its last update on March 3, it appears Kuna’s Crypto Fund of Ukraine has received over $14 million in major altcoins such as Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Candle (CNDL), USD Coin (USDC) and Dai (DAI).
