The Ukrainian government has received nearly $70 million in crypto donations since Russia’s invasion of the country a year ago, according to Chainalysis.
The blockchain data platform says the Ukrainian government was able to effectively turn to cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), for wartime support.
“While cryptocurrencies were used for malicious efforts during the war, they also emboldened Ukraine in many positive ways. For example, in March 2022, we determined that over $56 million worth of cryptocurrency had been donated to addresses provided by the Ukrainian government since the start of the war. By February 2023, those donations had grown to a total of nearly $70 million. The chart below demonstrates that most donations were made in BTC and ETH, two of the most popular cryptocurrencies.”
Chainalysis says that some of the “malicious” efforts were crypto donations flowing into pro-Russia groups.
“So far, at the one-year mark of the war, the number of pro-Russian organizations we have identified has grown to around 100, with nearly $5.4 million in donations received. However, these donations dwindled throughout the year.”
The data platform also says that there have been large thefts of ransomware encryption from groups within Russia.
“In recent years, ransomware attacks have increased due to factors such as new technology vulnerabilities due to the work-from-home culture. In our 2023 Cryptocrime Report, we identified at least $456.8 million in ransomware payments in 2022, the majority of which were made by actors believed to be based in Russia.
Ransomware attacks are often used by malicious people for political agendas, and we saw many examples during the Russia-Ukraine War. For example, Conti, a prolific Russian-based ransomware group, claimed approximately $66 million from victims in 2022.”
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