Close to Protocol Founder: Ukraine Shows How Crypto ‘Delivers Help Directly to People’
by Arthur · October 4, 2022
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, millions in cryptocurrency donations have found their way into the digital wallets of the Ukrainian government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the region.
Ukraine collected $63 million in crypto donations within two weeks of the invasion, according to Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
“In the beginning, [cryptocurrency] was a lifeline,” said Near Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin Decrypt at Messari Mainnet in New York City. Ukrainian-born Polosukhin says the first thing he thought of when he heard Russia was invading Ukraine was how he could help.
Polosukhin said that when he decided to donate funds to Ukraine, his concern was about Ukraine’s financial sector and whether some banks would still be standing. “If you send a bank transfer, it might come, it might not come, maybe there’s no bank tomorrow,” he said.
Because of these concerns, Polosukhin says he decided to donate cryptocurrency instead. “Crypto is actually a safe option,” says Polosukhin. “It’s fast and we can deliver deployed capital.”
Soon after, Polosukhin recalls, he joined with other founders to launch the Unchain Fund project, which uses cryptocurrency to support global causes — one of the broad ideals of the crypto movement.
“It’s resilient, it’s fast, it gives help directly to people,” he said.
Several big names in blockchain have donated to Ukraine, including Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood, along with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who along with crypto staking provider Everstake launched an official crypto fundraising page called Aid for Ukraine.
While there is no exact accounting of how much cryptocurrency donations Ukraine has received, an April 2022 Financial Times report said the total amount is more than $100 million.
Polosukhin says that while crypto donations to Ukraine have slowed, the Unchain Fund remains active in the region. At one point, Polosukhin says, the fund had up to 5,000 volunteers operating in Ukraine. In September, Unchain Fund partnered with Ukraine DAO and Atlantis World to launch the Kyiv Tech Summit, which included a panel discussion with Ethereum co-founder and Ukraine supporter Vitalik Buterin.
In August, Buterin said he used the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash commingling service and privacy tool to donate to Ukraine, a day after the US Treasury Department blacklisted the site.
Polosukhin says the point of the summit was to bring attention to Web3 developers in Ukraine.
“Ukrainian developers outsourcing,” said Polosukhin Decrypt. “Many companies, their clients have cut ties with Ukrainian companies because their risk model cannot recognize [working with] a company in a country at war.”
For Polosukhin, Web3 and cryptocurrency are ways to overcome this cluster, and he hopes more people will participate in building solutions with blockchain technology.
“Web3 doesn’t care,” he says. “[It] don’t care where you come from or where you’re going. If you build good products and deliver them, and solve people’s problems, you will be rewarded.”
