Amid Russian invasion Ukraine’s official Twitter account posts pleas for crypto donations

February 28, 2022 Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets, Tokens, CBDCs, Metaverse, NFTs, Enterprise, Entrepreneurs, Start-ups, Small Businesses, FinTech and Alternative Finance, Fintech International, Fundraising, Investing, Trading, Online Funding / Investing Campaigns, Stories No comments

The Block Crypto | Michael McSweeney | Feb 26, 2022

Ukraine's official Twitter account issued direct appeals for cryptocurrency donations on Saturday amid the ongoing invasion by Russian military forces.

As of press time, the official account, @Ukraine, has shared three such messages, though the first two were deleted. The addresses posted – for bitcoin as well as ether/USDT – remained consistent, though the wording of the appeals changed in each iteration. It is unclear whether the messages were purposefully deleted and reposted or if the inclusion of cryptocurrency addresses triggered controls put in place by Twitter following the 2020 account hackThe donation addresses were also shared by vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov's verified Twitter account as well as in his verified Telegram channel.

When reached via a press contact email listed on its website, The Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, which Fedorov leads, told The Block that:

"The communications channels of the Ministry Of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Minister Mykhailo Fedorov are secure. We are not hacked. This is [the] official position and messages we want to share. We are trying to contribute to the Ukraine’s victory and raise the awareness of international society on what’s happening in Ukraine. In every possible way we can," the representative continued.

Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba also shared the Ukrainian account's donation appeal.

See: Medvedev Says Russia May ‘Nationalize’ Foreign Assets in Response to Western Sanctions

Blockchain data indicates that the BTC address has garnered a total of 9.78612041 BTC as of press time, with the earliest transaction being posted on February 24.

Roughly 85 ETH has been sent to the listed address. Data from Etherscan indicates that donations have also been made in the form of USDT, USDC, as well as several non-fungible tokens.

Still, the messages have raised concerns about their veracity, especially given that the Russian military has conducted cyberattacks during its invasion. Among those expressing caution was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who urged people to avoid sending donations absent additional verification.

Justin Sun, founder of Tron, wrote on Twitter that he spoke to the Ukrainian embassy of the World Trade Organization, claiming that the embassy confirmed the messages.

See: Giving block reports, Crypto philanthropy jumped nearly 16x in 2021

Elliptic, the blockchain analytics firm that has been tracking donations amid the Ukrainian invasion, said Saturday that $5.1 million worth of crypto has been donated in recent days across nearly 3,000 donations.

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