Moscow launched a large-scale offensive early Thursday, attacking several Ukrainian cities, including the capital city of Kyiv.
According to new data from Elliptic, over a 12-hour period on Thursday, nearly $400,000 in bitcoin was donated to Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian nongovernmental organization providing support to the armed forces.
Donations totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars have flooded into Ukrainian NGOs and volunteer groups working to stave off a Russian offensive, according to Elliptic.
The Ukrainian army was given military equipment, medical supplies, and drones, as well as funding the development of a facial recognition app, if someone is a Russian mercenary or spy.
Tom Robinson, Elliptic's chief scientist, said that crowdfund war is being used with the tacit approval of governments.
Volunteer groups have been augmenting the work of the military in Ukraine. Volunteers supported protesters when pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.
Since cryptocurrencies allow them to circumvent financial institutions that might block payments to Ukraine, they've become more popular.
According to Elliptic, volunteer groups and NGOs have collectively raised over $1 million incryptocurrencies, though that number appears to be quickly moving higher as donations come in.
A military column approaches the Perekop checkpoint on the Ukrainian border. Early on February 24, President Putin announced a special military operation to be conducted by the Russian Armed Forces in response to appeals for help from the leaders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.The military is provided with equipment, training services and medical supplies by Come Back Alive.
Over the last year, the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance has received close to $100,000 in various coins. Elliptic says that Alliance activists have engaged in cyberattacks against Russian targets.
Since the beginning of the conflict, pro-Russian rebels have been raising funds in the virtual currency.
Boaz Sobrado, a London-based data analyst, told CNBC that some Russian officials mentioned they weren't shutting off opposition bank accounts for fear of pushing them into coin raising.
Sobrado went on to say that there is a long history of coin raising for controversial causes, including from Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
The country of Ukraine has taken steps to embrace cryptocurrencies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the parliament recently reached a common ground on a law that regulates cryptocurrencies. It doesn't go as far as El Salvador, which adopted bitcoin as legal tender in September, but it goes a long way towards elevating the status of the digital currency.
Zelenskyy spoke about the legal innovative market for virtual assets on an official state visit to the U.S.
All of those plans could be rendered useless by a war with Russia.
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