During the three months of the war, the state, volunteers and private initiatives attracted a record $125 million in cryptocurrency donations for Ukraine. Charitable foundations and crypto organizations, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, showed how the field of digital currencies helps Ukrainians and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in difficult times.

In a partner article with the British fintech company Wirex , we tell why charitable foundations should have crypto wallets and how crypto business helps our compatriots in Ukraine and abroad.

How crypto helps volunteers

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian army into the territory of Ukraine, Ukrainians have faced the problem of how to quickly collect volunteer assistance. The units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine needed additional gear and equipment: off-road vehicles, thermal imagers, drones, helmets, body armor, and walkie-talkies.

After the National Bank restricted the withdrawal of foreign currency from the country, volunteers began to look for how to transfer the collected funds to foreign suppliers. Practice has shown that it is most effective and convenient to make urgent purchases abroad using cryptocurrencies. Volunteer Sergiy Prytula spoke about this on one of the streams .

According to him, about a third of all fund purchases are made in digital currencies. In every major European city, the organization has representatives who can cash out crypto and pay, for example, for a batch of SUVs.

One of the largest volunteer foundations, Turn Back Alive, also uses cryptocurrencies. On the very first day of the Russian invasion, the organization’s Patreon page was removed without notice . At that time, there was a substantial amount of almost $250 thousand. Volunteers quickly switched to crypto wallets and already managed to collect the equivalent of $20 million in different cryptocurrencies.

The Lviv Volunteer Initiative “Palyanytsya” also actively uses digital currencies, now they have 14 different crypto wallets on their website.

How crypto business helps Ukraine

The international crypto community also supported Ukraine.

Polkadot founder Gavin Wood donated $5.8 million, and Ethereum project co-founder Vitalik Buterin donated $5 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Ukrainian blockchain company Everstake and its co-founders Sergey Vasilchuk and Evgeny Seifert donated $ 10 million in cryptocurrencies to Ukraine .

And the platform for attracting cryptocurrency under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Transformation raised more than $60 million during the three months of the war. Night vision devices, thermal imagers, dry rations, protective equipment and fuel for defenders have already been purchased with these funds.

So that the international community does not forget that the war in Ukraine continues, the British fintech company Wirex decided to help systematically . She will donate all income received from in-app transactions to humanitarian needs for Ukraine on the 24th of every month while the war is going on.

During the three months of the war, the company transferred its cryptocurrency earnings to the Kolo Foundation, which purchases optics, drones and communications equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to the Voices of Children charity , which helps children affected by the war. In May, Wirex made a contribution to a charitable foundation from the Kyiv School of Economics .

Daria Volkova, Employer Brand Director Director of Employer Brand Development at Wirex R&D has been running the Transact to Donate program with a British team since the start of the war. She recommends that all funds that have not yet established cryptocurrency accounts should create one immediately. 

“Now, if you do not collect donations in the crypt, you refuse the opportunities that the modern world gives, and leave the wards without additional help. If the fund’s website already has wallet addresses, then it should be possible to easily check them and send the currency,” says Daria Volkova.

It’s best to have multiple stablecoin accounts, she says. a type of cryptocurrency, the price of which is pegged to another, less volatile asset – USDT, USDC, as well as in top cryptocurrencies – BTC, ETH. But you can also accept donations in promising currencies, for example, in the Wirex coin – WXT. Recently, it has been growing, and it has also become more often used to pay for goods and services.

Which global organizations are already receiving crypto donations

According to the Crystal Blockchain analytical report , as of mid-May, Ukraine received the most cryptocurrency donations in Ethereum (ETH) – almost 53 million in dollar terms . In second place is Bitcoin with more than $32 million. Many also transferred in USDT, BUSD, USDC and DAI. Ukrainian volunteer and charitable foundations can rely on these statistics to select crypto wallets and offer donors different options for recalculating aid.

By the way, the international trend in cryptocurrency philanthropy extends not only to Ukraine. Many organizations have already seen the benefits of digital currencies and the need for wallets to accept stablecoin donations.

UNICEF has launched a new financial mechanism CryptoFund to work with cryptocurrencies. Large organizations such as the Red Cross and Greenpeace have also begun to accept crypto. In 2021, the Tor Project, a popular nonprofit organization for online freedom and privacy, received 58% of donations in digital currencies.

Help for Ukrainians abroad

It is also important to support Ukrainians who were forced to go abroad because of the war. According to the UN , the number of Ukrainian refugees has exceeded 6.5 million people . The NBU restrictions made it difficult to send money from Ukraine to the EU countries, so cryptocurrencies have become for many Ukrainians a quick and convenient way to replenish the wallets of their relatives.

Therefore, for example, the British fintech company Wirex in April opened access to cryptocurrency cards to Ukrainians in the EU . The company said that Ukrainians who are in Europe as a result of the war can use the Wirex App without restrictions , as well as issue physical Wirex cards. The latter provide an opportunity to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrencies and fiat money. Ukrainians can issue such cards for free.

“Cryptocurrencies have already become an integral part of our lives. We see that the barriers of traditional finance are easily overcome with the help of digital currencies for the free transfer of value and the speedy resolution of problems. After all, cryptocurrencies allow cross-border transfers to be made quickly, securely, cheaply and directly, without any intermediaries, so there is freedom in this, – explains Wirex CTO, Head of Wirex R&D Ruslan Kolodyazhny. “That is why we supported Ukrainians who left for European countries and opened access to Wirex cryptocurrency cards.”

According to him, the war in Ukraine showed that cryptocurrencies are an effective tool for supporting society. And to use it, you do not need to have technical knowledge.

“We see how cryptocurrencies are getting on the same level as traditional money,” says CTO Wirex. “And this trend will only continue.”

The Binance crypto exchange also launched the Binance Refugee cryptocurrency card for Ukrainians who, due to the war, were forced to move to the countries of the European Economic Area. After being verified by local non-profit organizations and applying for such a card, refugees will receive 75 BUSD per month, equivalent to $75, for 90 days.

There are many examples of philanthropic initiatives among the crypto community. “And the crypt itself has proven its indispensability in times of crisis and trials,” Wirex believes . “ The global crypto community has demonstrated, not in word, but in deed, that it can distinguish between good and evil and is ready to help us in the struggle for victory and peace .”