Ukraine has taken in at least $100 million in crypto donations this year, but what have officials in Kiev done with the money?

To support the conflict with Russia, thousands of pieces of state-of-the-art military equipment, unprecedented media support, and billions of dollars – to maintain financial stability – have poured into Ukraine from the West.

The multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency donations which Ukraine has been collecting “for the needs of its army” since February, seem to have disappeared from public view. So how has Kiev disposed of more than $100 million in crypto collected from around the world?

Every little BTC helps
Two days after the start of Russia's military operation, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov announced cryptocurrency fundraising to support the country. Kiev accepted almost all major denominations: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, a number of lesser-known types, and even NFTs.

At the time, the decision to accept crypto, to “help Ukrainian fighters”, appeared innocuous. The Russian offensive was rapid and it seemed as though Western aid, although large-scale, would not arrive in time.

Cryptocurrencies are an ideal tool in this respect: With a few clicks you can transfer millions of dollars to almost any country in the world, theoretically bypassing banking supervision or the attention of law enforcement. Ukrainian officials clearly expected to attract money not only from the governments of the United States and the European Union but also from concerned citizens familiar crypto. And they succeeded.

Just a week after fundraising began, on March 3, Deputy Minister Alexander Bornyakov announced that Kiev had raised $53 million. A week later, this figure doubled – the country had received a round sum of $100 million from all over the world. It seemed that a local crypto-paradise had formed in Ukraine and, once this money was put into circulation, the country would be able to successfully resist Russia. However, the reality turned out to be much more complex.

First, the flow of cryptocurrencies drastically weakened. In early June, the same Fedorov reported that “for more than three months, the total amount of donations in crypto assets exceeded $100 million.” After June, he no longer published messages about the value of new contributions.

The money that Kiev managed to collect for confrontation with Russia should have been spent as efficiently as possible. And here the "fun" begins.

Less than 50%

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