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A12 technology
Monday 28 March 2022

Crypto for Ukraine provides a flow of

war-related assistance

a voice message sent via
the app Telegram.
Chobanian said he was
not receiving payment
for his work but acknowl-
edged that some of the
funds are being converted
through his cryptocurrency
exchange Kuna.
“It’s certainly a first,” said
Bennett Tomlin, who in-
vestigates cryptocurrency
scams and hosts the pod-
cast Crypto Critic’s Corner.
“We’ve never seen a sov-
(AP) — Ukraine, which has unexpected initial surge ereign nation fund their de-
waged a staunch defense may inspire other efforts to fense efforts in crypto be-
against Russian invasion, solicit cryptocurrencies for fore. It does prove out a lot
says it has pioneered a new humanitarian or defensive of the crypto argument.”
source of financial support purposes. That argument is that cryp-
People around the world Officials have said that the tocurrencies allow for the
who have donated millions speed with which they can unfettered sending and
of dollars directly to its war use cryptocurrency dona- receiving of value across
effort via cryptocurrencies tions has made them use- borders via networks that
such as bitcoin. ful. can’t easily be censored or
Since Feb. 26, when Ukraini- The downside of that ease shut down because there is
an officials began tweeting of transfer, of course, is that no single entity in charge.
calls for cryptocurrency do- cryptocurrencies continue Proponents also argue that
nations, the Ukrainian gov- to be a magnet for scams cryptocurrency doesn’t
ernment says it has taken in and are the currency of require users to trust finan-
almost $67 million of its $200 choice for criminal net- cial institutions because
million goal as of Saturday. works. On Tuesday, Euro- the system is managed by
“Today, crypto is playing a pean Central Bank head code that anyone can in-
significant role in Ukraine’s Christine Lagarde warned spect and transactions are
defense,” Alex Bornyakov, that crypto assets “are be- written indelibly into distrib-
the country’s deputy min- ing used as a way to try to uted public digital ledgers
ister for digital transforma- circumvent the sanctions known as blockchains.
tion, wrote on the nation’s ” against Russia, but didn’t The donations to Ukraine
donation website. provide details beyond are a stress test of sorts
Ukraine has spent about noting that global transfers for those claims, some of
$34 million of the funds re- of rubles into cryptocur- which have fared better
ceived as of last week, rency are rising sharply in than others.
converting about 80% to volume. For example, services like
traditional currencies and Michael Chobanian, the cryptocurrency exchanges
using the remainder with founder of a Ukrainian do act as gatekeepers in
merchants that already cryptocurrency exchange, part because many are
accept cryptocurrencies, is one of several people required to collect identify-
Bornyakov said in response helping the Ukrainian gov- ing information about the
to emailed questions. ernment manage the do- people who use their ser-
The funds raised in crypto- nations through an infor- vices. Two large cryptocur-
currency are a just small mal agreement, Bornyakov rency exchanges, Binance
part of the overall dona- confirmed. and CoinBase, took action
tions that Ukraine has re- “We are buying so much to limit use of some of their
ceived. After raising as stuff that is saving lives ev- services in Russia earlier this
much as $12 million on ery single day and also are month, although they have
March 2, cryptocurrency stopping the aggression, so not withdrawn entirely.
donations have tapered off it’s a beginning of the new The publicity around
although boosters say the world,” Chobanian said in Ukraine’s call for donations
also attracted scammers
who tried to capitalize on
the good will of donors.
Hilary Allen, a professor at
American University’s law
school who has written a
book about the risks cryp-
tocurrencies pose to finan-
cial systems, said anyone
who donates should care-
fully look at all the actors
involved.q