Ukraine legalises crypto amid multimillion dollar digital donations
People from around the world, including wealthy Australians, have responded to the country’s call-out to help it fight Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine has legalised cryptocurrency after millions were donated to help the country against Russia’s invasion.
A number of high net worth individuals in Australia and crypto businesses have donated more than a million dollars to Ukraine, it is understood.
Melbourne-based Apollo Capital has donated ethereum, while trading firm Zerocap sent its crypto to support international humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontier.
Now Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made it lawful for Ukrainian banks to open accounts for crypto firms and also appointed a financial watchdog for the sector.
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Meanwhile, crypto exchanges and companies that handle the digital coin will have to register with the government, with Ukraine pledging to protect citizen’s crypto assets like they would normal currency.
Ukraine’s vice prime minister and Minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said the law would “bring the cryptosector out of the shadows”.
“With the beginning of the war, cryptocurrencies became a powerful tool for attracting additional funding to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he wrote on instant messaging service Telegram.
“In more than three weeks of war, the Crypto Fund of Ukraine has raised more than $54 million in cryptocurrencies.”
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s government launched a website for people around the world to donate with cryptocurrency and it has expanded into accepting a broad range of coins after initially just taking the most popular crypto bitcoin and ether.
It has said the money will fund Ukraine’s military and humanitarian efforts.
Ordinary Ukrainians have also been quick to snap up crypto assets with trading on domestic exchange Kuna surging by a whopping 200 per cent after Russia’s invasion.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that Russian hackers will look to increase crypto ransomware attacks to fund the invasion.
Crypto exchanges around the world have agreed to block the accounts of Russians as part of economic sanctions against the country.
