Ukraine's official Twitter account and government officials post donation requests in the form of bitcoin, ether, and USDT amid Russia's invasion
Welcome to the 1,341 newly Not Boring people who have joined us since our last Monday piece! JD Alois / Crowdfund Insider : More Than $20 Million in Crypto Donated to Ukraine, One Wallet Donated $3 Million Hermi De Ramos / CoinQuora : Experts Warn: Crypto Scammers Aiming for Ukrainian Chaos Jordan Lyanchev / CryptoPotato : Crypto Donations to Ukraine Exceed $13 Million Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge : Crypto became viable for transactions in Ukraine, where Tether is popular, after its central bank suspended digital cash transfers and limited cash withdrawals Tweets: @sbf_ftx : we just gave $25 to each Ukrainian on FTX do what you gotta do @fedorovmykhailo : Stand with the people of Ukraine Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Ethereum. Bitcoin and Tether (USDTtrc20) BTC — 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P ETH — 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45 e14 USDT (trc20) — TEFccmfQ38cZS1DTZVhsxKVDckA8Y6VfCy @ukraine : Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. BTC - 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P ETH and USDT (ERC-20) - 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45 e14 @vitalikbuterin : Getting some confirmations from a couple sources that it's legit. Deleting my warning for now. But continue to be vigilant, and always be slow and careful when sending irreversible crypto transactions. https://twitter.com/... @tomicahtd : @Ukraine To follow up on @VitalikButerin's tweet, I've confirmed directly with Ukrainian Ambassador @olex_scherba that the addresses are correct and in the control of the Ukrainian govt. Give!!! Defending free and open societies may be the best thing we ever do with our BTC and ETH... @btctn : Ukraine has raised $17 million in #crypto donations since the start of the Russian invasion. “#Bitcoin is officially legit in Ukraine,” said a former Ukrainian ambassador. #cryptocurrency $BTC $ETH https://zpr.io/... Oliver L. Velez / @olvelez007 : The first war in the history of the world that is partially being funded by the people of the world via Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. 🤯 And no one can stop it. Do you truly understand how huge this is? https://cryptopotato.com/... Ben Bartenstein / @benbartenstein : Ukraine's government is soliciting leads on the crypto wallets of Russian and Belorussian politicians. The goal is to mark their addresses as “toxic,” discouraging transactions with them. The bounty amount for accurate info is TBD. https://www.bloomberg.com/... @crypto @bpolitics @spacerunnersnft : We saw your suggestions and we want to help #Ukraine as much as possible 🙏🇺🇦💛 1) We're donating 30% of our secondary royalty profits from gen1 2) We're reaching out to @UNICEF to find ways to donate more from our upcoming gen2 collection To help contribute👇 https://twitter.com/... Mike Novogratz / @novogratz : Love this. Go Sam. https://twitter.com/... @onigiriman1998 : I just found out that Ukraine is now accepting donations in cryptocurrency. I immediately made a donation. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Amir Shevat / @ashevat : This really makes me want to build Twitter API that power donation experiences💛💙🇺 🇦 https://twitter.com/... Larry Cermak / @lawmaster : @VitalikButerin Seems legit and their PR also confirmed to The Block it's legit https://twitter.com/... @olex_scherba : Thank you, Tomicah! People are understandably cautious about donations. And Russians try to exploit it. #HelpUkraine #SupportUkraine #StandWithUkraine https://twitter.com/... @launders : If there's one thing crypto is provably good it, it's raising money fast.⚡️ https://twitter.com/... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : A few tidbits: a source who confirmed that the crypto-fundraiser was legit said he believed that the funds would go to “exterminate as many Russian occupants as possible”. Also, the biggest donor so far ($278k) is from @dt_chain https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Ran NeuNer / @cryptomanran : Nations are using crypto to help them win wars. https://twitter.com/... Thomas / @fundstrat : Time and again, in uncertain times, #Bitcoin has a use case - still don't think it's useful? https://twitter.com/... @olex_scherba : To those who want to help in bitcoin. Bitcoin is officially legit in Ukraine - just like this account and this retweet. Don't mind the comments of our Russian “brothers”. #StandWithUkraine https://twitter.com/... Preston Pysh / @prestonpysh : Remember this tweet when the mainstream news tells you Bitcoin is evil because Russia is using it to bypass sanctions. #bitcoin is like a knife to a surgeon or a knife to a criminal. Like any valuable technology throughout time, its value comes from the intention behind its use. https://twitter.com/... Connor Sephton / @connorsephton : 🚨 NEW: Ukraine's government has confirmed to me that these messages are genuine. “We are not hacked. This is the official positions and messages we want to share.” @VitalikButerin had expressed fears that @Ukraine and @FedorovMykhailo had been hacked. https://twitter.com/... @fwd : A source who confirmed the government's fundraiser believed the funds would go to “exterminate as many Russian occupants as possible.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Alex Gladstein / @gladstein : 2022: first nation-state under financial stress begins accepting aid in Bitcoin ✌️ https://twitter.com/... @wublockchain : Among the cryptocurrency donation addresses officially announced by Ukraine, 5.22 Bitcoins and 132 Ethereums have been received at present. Justin Sun said that he donated 200,000 USDT. https://twitter.com/... Thomas Maxwell / @tomaxwell : It appears that these addresses have been vetted https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Ukraine's appeal followed domestic limits on digital cash transfers and cash withdrawals, conditions under which Tether became a viable transaction option in the country. The official accounts turned that utility into a publicly distributed fundraising channel.
The immediate response was measurable: an Elliptic report put government receipts at nearly $20 million in bitcoin and ether, alongside Binance's planned $10 million crypto donation. Later coverage also shows Ukraine seeking to identify Russian and Belorussian political wallets as toxic, connecting fundraising to transaction screening.
First-order effects
- Ukraine gains direct donation rails in bitcoin, ether, and USDT that supporters can use without relying on conventional digital cash transfers.
- Donors must verify the official wallet addresses and bear irreversible-transfer risk as scammers target Ukraine-related giving.
Second-order effects
- Crypto platforms and wallet providers face pressure to distinguish verified Ukrainian fundraising addresses from fraudulent appeals and, later, wallets associated with Russian and Belorussian political figures.
- Ukraine's move to mark suspected Russian-linked wallets as toxic makes transaction screening part of the conflict's crypto-donation infrastructure, not only a compliance function.
Third-order effects
- If official wartime fundraising and wallet blacklisting persist together, public institutions will use crypto networks as both cross-border funding rails and financial-enforcement channels.
- The pattern narrows the crypto legitimacy gap: adoption depends less on permissionless access alone than on trusted address verification and the ability to deter illicit counterparties.
The trend: Conflict-driven crypto use is moving from ad hoc donations toward institutionally verified funding and wallet-based financial enforcement.