Most of these transactions took a few minutes and around $1 in fees. Bitcoin lightning is pennies in fees, but the account shown is on main chain. There are over 19,000 individual donations.
- If you know somebody who wants to contribute to Ukraine but doesn’t want to deal with the hassle, cost, or availability of international bank wires, this is a great way.
- It will go directly to the Govt of Ukraine instead of being filtered through a NGO or other party.
- Unlike aid from governments/NGOs this money comes with no restrictions on how Ukraine can spend it.
- Most major cities have several Bitcoin ATMs and in many countries you can buy Bitcoin online easily. This means you can have a bake sale or other fundraiser, turn that money into Bitcoin, and send it to Ukraine directly.
Transaction list: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P
Proof this address (357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P) is really owned by the Ukraine govt: https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1497594592438497282
curious, how did they convert it to fiat?
They may have not, who knows. If they’re using the donations to buy arms from other countries, BTC may well be the easiest way to move those funds. Hryvnia isn’t exactly a popular currency for international trade and moving money in/out of Ukraine is difficult. Banks see it as a place with many counterparty risks and low liquidity, many banks won’t even let you wire money there for that reason.
If they did convert them, they probably used an exchange of some kind and converted it to whatever currency they need to buy whatever it is they want to buy. Either USD/EUR or the currency of the country they’re buying from (Lira if they are buying Bayraktar drones). Somebody more knowledgeable in chain analytics than me could probably figure out which exchange they used.
