It makes sense to send crypto donations to charity if you deal in crypto regularly.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, humanitarian and military-related groups have received millions of dollars in crypto donations from around the world, indicating a tremendous outpouring of support for Ukraine’s struggle.

While fiat money remains a viable option to support Ukraine (in most circumstances), Bitcoin has accounted for a sizable portion of the donations:

The Ukrainian exchange enabling the payments, the Ukrainian government has been seeking crypto donations via its official Twitter account in bitcoin, ether, and the dollar-denominated stablecoin tether. The funds will be used to provide drones, heat-vision goggles, and gas to evacuees and “local military personnel.” According to Elliptic, a blockchain analytics business, the Ukrainian government has raised roughly $14 million in cryptocurrency.

UkraineDAO, a community-led fundraising campaign, has followed suit, holding a non-fungible token (NFT) auction on behalf of Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian non-government organization banned off Patreon for breaking the network’s rules of service. Come Back Alive’s website promotes sniper training programs, according to the crowdfunding platform, and the organization is “financ[ing] and train[ing] military troops.” The NFT auction is still going on, and almost $3.5 million in ETH has already been raised.

Come Back Alive, local Ukrainian media verified by [a local English-language news agency called The Kyiv Independent]. A quickly created NFT collection earned over $1 million in ETH for a brand new charity named RELI3F, spearheaded by famous crypto influencers like Andrew Wang. According to the group’s Twitter account, the Hospitallers medical brigade will each receive around half of the money.

Individual investors and influencers have also gotten involved: Sam Bankman-Fried, a crypto millionaire, donated $250,000 in tether, while Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain.com, donated 100 ETH, or roughly $277,000. Bankman-Fried also stated that his firm, FTX, will provide $25 to each Ukrainian user.

Murat Pak, an NFT artist who previously stated that politics “bores” him and that “none of [his] moves are political,” claims to have contributed $1.8 million in ETH to Ukraine’s “human rights.”

Shills and opportunists abound in crypto, as they always do. Vice recently highlighted a vile but likely well-intentioned meme featuring a Bored Ape NFT professing support for the people of Ukraine. Gavin Wood, the creator of the Polkadot (DOT) cryptocurrency, stated that he would donate $5 million if the government promoted the token by “post[ing] a DOT address.” In other words, if the government would take his token, he would donate.

Aside from apes, the question remains: why cryptography? It’s not as if there aren’t alternative options: the Ukraine Twitter account released information regarding fiat currency direct money transfers, and Come Back Alive takes donations through the SWIFT-linked international banking system.

Unlike Russia, Ukraine has the backing of the vast majority of the globe. Russia is the country that has lost partial SWIFT access, and Russia’s banks and corporate sector are being heavily sanctioned by Western nations (with notable exceptions being made for its oil conglomerates). Ordinary Russians, the great majority of whom have had no involvement in the conflict, possibly face bank runs as the ruble falls.

Also, read – Ethereum And Bitcoin Donations to Ukraine

Ukraine’s Quest to Become a Crypto Jurisdiction

You’d think that crypto would be more valuable to Russians than to Ukrainians, except that, because of limitations on fiat on- and off-ramps, digital currencies are typically traceable and can be just as censorable as other currencies, depending on how they’re utilized.

All the crypto donations have to do with the more significant buzz around crypto and the habits that investors and entrepreneurs in this area have already acquired. Fundraiser decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) excel at raising large sums of money in a short period. It’s not so much about “censorship resistance” and rapid transfers as it is about maintaining cash in the system. It makes sense to send your charitable contributions in crypto donations if you already interact with crypto regularly.

Ethereum’s absurdly high gas fees – when you donate with Ethereum, you get significantly less bang for your buck than when you present with fiat money.