Russian Invasion: Bitcoin Donations for Army Pour in For Ukrainian Army

New Delhi: As Russia invaded Ukraine, individuals began giving cryptocurrency to help the Ukrainian army, with more than $400,000 worth of bitcoins contributing to just one organisation in the last few days.

According to statistics from blockchain and crypto analytics firm Elliptic, Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that raises crypto donations for the Ukrainian army collected more than $400,000 worth of digital tokens in the last few days.

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According to Fortune, the average gift is between $1,000 and $2,000, and the group has received at least 317 individual donations in the last two days.

On social media networks like Twitter and Facebook, pro-Ukraine and pro-crypto communities have also participated.

According to Elliptic, the rise in cryptocurrency donations indicates that cryptocurrencies have "emerged as a key alternative fundraising channel, allowing overseas contributors to bypass banking institutions that are banning payments to these organisations."

Hundreds of crypto-asset donations of several hundred thousand dollars have been donated to these organisations, according to their data, which has increased by over 900 per cent by 2021.

Elliptic has discovered many bitcoin wallets used by these volunteer groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which have collected a total of slightly over $570,000 in the last year.

Over the last year, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance has collected about $100,000 in Bitcoin donations.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has also established a dedicated bank account to collect lawful currency donations for its troops.

Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine have caused cryptocurrency values to fall in the last two weeks, with the market losing $150 billion in value since Putin authorised specific military action against Ukraine.