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Yarema Dukh, a communications strategist who helped set up Ukraine’s official Twitter account in 2016, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the tweets and the wallet were legitimate government plans. He said he believed the cryptocurrency fund would “destroy as much of the Russian population as possible,” but was unsure about the government’s spending plans.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning. Since then, Russian forces have entered Kyiv, putting the democratically elected government at risk.
At first, some people, including ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, worried that the tweets might be from scammers who had hacked the account. After hearing from the deputy prime minister, Buterin tweeted who have received confirmation, but encourage people to always be careful when sending donations in cryptocurrency.
So far, according to the ledger, the largest donation of 100 ether (about $278,000) has come from Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of Chain.com, a blockchain technology company. “When I realized the Ukrainian government had asked for donations in the form of crypto, I felt compelled to help,” Thapiyal told BuzzFeed News. “Crypto donations are limitless and almost instantaneous, so I hope the government out there can quickly help those in need.”
Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer groups have a history of accepting bitcoins. Volunteer group Come Back Alive, which provides supplies to the Ukrainian military, has been asking for donations in cryptocurrency since 2018, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. In a report, Elliptic said governments and NGOs have received $11 million in cryptocurrency donations since the invasion began Thursday.
The nation is especially ready to handle cryptocurrency donations. This fall, it passed legislation to legalize and regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, becoming one of the few countries that have accepted the cryptocurrency. Ukraine’s low taxes and abundant tech talent have made it a cryptocurrency hub.
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