On Wednesday, total cryptocurrency donated to Ukrainian government wallet addresses, charities, and relief efforts had reached $108 million, according to data from Cointelegraph. The three main recipients of these funds are the official wallet addresses of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) from the Ukrainian government, and a BTC donations address for Come Back Alive.
The same day, Kraken announced that it would distribute more than $10 million to customers who created an account in Ukraine before March 9 for relief efforts. Regardless of their account balance, Ukrainian Kraken clients will receive $1,000 worth of BTC each during the first round of fund distribution, which can be withdrawn immediately. The exchange has also waived fees on withdrawals up to $1,000. Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, made the following statements about the relief package:
“Cryptocurrency remains an important humanitarian tool, especially at a time when many around the world can no longer trust traditional banks and custodians.”
The funds will be distributed throughout the year, in part to give Ukrainian residents time to complete Kraken’s “intermediate” Know Your Customer verification process. Perhaps ironically, fees collected from Russia-based Kraken accounts will partly fund the relief package.
Kraken will distribute over $10 million worth of to aid clients in Ukraine. Tranche 1 recipients will be credited $1000 of #BTC, withdrawable tomorrow. The package is funded by historical Ukraine revenues and H1 2022 revenues from Russia-based trading.https://t.co/DdkY2TsVoB
— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) March 9, 2022
Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, also joined the fundraising efforts for Ukraine on Wednesday. After raising nearly $1 million in ETH from wallets containing a non-fungible token from the BAYC collection, the developers behind the project said they would match the contribution with a donation of another $1 million in ETH of their own.
It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to @Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own. ♥ï¸
— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 8, 2022
Other notable contributions include Binance’s Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund, which has received over $11.3 million in BTC, BNB, and BUSD since its inception. Also, during its latest update on March 3, it appears that the Kuna Ukraine Cryptocurrency Fund has received over $14 million in several major altcoins such as Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Candle (CNDL), USD Coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI).
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