Ukraine isn't just relying on foreign government aid to finance its defense against the Russian invasion. According to Reuters, Elliptic reports the Ukranian government has raised over $13 million ($13.6 million as of this writing) in cryptocurrency from more than 18,000 contributors after it launched a crowdfunding effort on February 26th to bolster its fight. The country has raised a total of $20.9 million since the invasion began, but got its biggest lift when it published wallet addresses for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether on Saturday. The nation's digital transformation ministry told Reuters it would use the crypto to "destroy as much [sic] Russian soldiers as possible." Unofficial efforts like Come Back Alive and Support Ukranian Sovereignty have also raised cryptocurrency to support the Ukraine military and local charities. The actions come as cryptocurrency exchanges have partially clamped down on Russia. Finbold and Reuters note Binance has already restricted ...
Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced that it lost $40 million (7,000 Bitcoins) in a "large scale security breach." The company said that hackers accessed a hot wallet that contained about two percent of its total BTC holdings. They used phishing and viruses to obtain user data and managed to bypass security checks, preventing Binance from blocking the transaction. The company said that "no user funds will be affected," as has an emergency fund that will cover the incident "in full."