It was February 24, 2022 when Russia launched the military offensive against Ukraine. At the end of a year into the war, Chainalysis produced a report that tracked cryptocurrency donations to both Russia and Ukraine.
He report It says Ukraine has received nearly $70 million and pro-Russian groups $5.4 million in crypto donations since the war broke out last year.
Crypto donations to Ukraine
Donations to Ukraine were made primarily in ETH, BTC, USDT, and USDC, with shares of $28.9 million, $22.8 million, $11.5 million, and $1.2 million, respectively.
Around 80% of the cryptocurrency donations occurred in the first months of the war. A Chainalysis report dated March 28, 2022, revealed that nearly $56 million worth of cryptocurrency was received by Ukraine at that time.
Another Chainalysis article identified around 50 pro-Russia groups that collected $2.2 million worth of crypto donations, crypto potato reported in July. The latest document says that the number of these groups has increased to almost 100 and the collections to almost 5.4 million dollars at the end of a year of war.
Sanctions and ransomware attacks
In a year, the Chainalysis report says that Russian oligarchs and institutions have been unable to use cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, except for small transactions.
“Our findings suggested that cryptocurrency markets are almost certainly too illiquid to support massive evasion of Russian sanctions, although that does not mean that this activity is not occurring on a smaller scale,” the report said.
However, pro-Russia hacking groups made off with $456.8 million in 2022, according to another Chainalysis report mapping crypto crime.
“Ransomware attacks have often been used by bad actors for political agendas, and we have seen many examples during the Russia-Ukraine War. For example, Conti, a prolific Russian-based ransomware group, made approximately $66 million from victims in 2022,” the latest report reads.
Donations to Turkey and Syria
crypto companies they have been quick to send and pledge donations to earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria. Ripple has committed $1 million in humanitarian assistance, while Binance deposited $5 million into its users’ accounts in Turkey.
By February 15, crypto companies had sent more than 9 million dollars in donations to Turkey and Syria.
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