| Daya Morty, CryptoJungle News |
While sanctions on Russia are mounting and expanding into the crypto world as well, the Ukrainian government is using digital currencies. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, digital currencies worth more than $ 63 million have been donated to the country. Now, the Ukrainian government has set up a special site to raise crypto donations through cooperation with the FTX and Kuna trading platforms and also with the Everstake staking platform.
Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Office has announced the launch of a new platform, “Aid For Ukraine”, which enables fundraising in many digital currencies, including:, Polkdot, Solana, Monroe, and the StableCurrency (USDT).
According to the site, donations will be sent to the National Bank of Ukraine for ammunition and essential products to support the Ukrainian army and humanitarian aid.
| Addressing the crypto community in its language
There is no doubt that the Ukrainian government is making good use of the freedom and lack of borders that characterize the field of digital currencies. The new site is aimed at the crypto community and also allows for bank transfers, for those who do not want to get rid of the digital currencies they have.
“Want to make a Hodl? Send cash,”
Written on the website Aid For Ukraine.
Anatoly Yakovno, co-founder of, explained how the assistance to Ukraine illustrates the ability of the crypto community to work in partnership with the traditional financial system. According to him, the digital currencies are sent to the FTX trading arena, where they are sold in exchange for a US dollar sent to the Ukrainian government via SWIFT.
| Eastern countries and sanctions
Regulators around the world are turning to digital currency trading arenas to take part in sanctions against Russia. Although the sanctions stem mainly from the US and Western countries, Asian countries are also joining the sanctions. Japan has ordered the country’s trading venues not to allow organizations and individuals from Russia and Belarus that are under sanctions to take action, and announced that all of the country’s economic sanctions apply to digital currencies.
At the same time as Japan, Singapore last week banned financial institutions in the country from making transactions with Russian banks that are under sanctions, as well as raising funds for the Russian and Belarusian governments. The ban also included the use of all types of digital currencies, including NFTs (unique non-exchangeable tokens). Major trading venues in South Korea have taken sanctions one step further, restricting access and even blocking withdrawal from all accounts associated with IP addresses from Russia.
| Two sides to the digital currency
But not all Asian countries are in a hurry to join the sanctions using crypto. In Thailand, for example, the Ministry of Tourism is discussing with the central bank regarding the adoption of digital currencies as a means of payment for Russian tourists, whose other means of payment have been blocked. Following the sanctions, Russian credit cards can not operate outside of Russia – causing many Russian tourists to find themselves stuck in a foreign country with no means of payment. There are reportedly some 7,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists stranded in Thailand with no means of payment.
Russia is also beginning to think of other ways to use digital currencies in response to sanctions. Russia’s state-run ally Alexander Yakovsky has said Russia should set up its own digital currency trading arena to ease sanctions.
Will the sanctions on Russia lead the Russian central bank to change its official position regarding the field? Russia’s position on the digital currency sector is what has led to the fact that there is currently no large and legal trading arena in the country. As a result, even in this area it does not seem to have a broad infrastructure to circumvent international sanctions.
Apparently the disagreements in Russia on the issue are justified. On the one hand, Russia could have developed a good infrastructure to use cryptocurrencies to ease sanctions to some extent, but on the other hand, the easier it is for Russian citizens to abandon the ruble in favor of cryptocurrencies, the faster it will probably collapse.
– The article was originally published on the CryptoJungle website.