Donations for both Ukrainian defenders and aid groups have poured in since Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
Come Back Alive took in nearly $700,000 on Thursday. By Friday morning, it had received more than $3 million in the form of a single donor, according to Elliptic.
Jess Symington, research lead at Elliptic, told Insider last week that this is a new factor in complex situations.
Cryptocurrencies are attractive as a form of donation in times of conflict because of two factors.
Even when banks are in turmoil and traditional currency is changing, they can be accessed.
Since the conflict began, citizens in Ukraine have had limited access to currencies and cash withdrawals, making them an attractive option.
Andrew Durgee, Head of Republic Crypto, told Insider that the crisis in Ukraine has given the currency another moment of high utility.
Durgee compared the current wave of donations to last year, when the UN gave vouchers to thousands of Syrian refugees, and he expects to see more cross-border value transfers.
It is an incredibly powerful technology, especially when banking systems are under extreme duress.
Junior Theomou is the founder and CEO of MinersDeFi. To him, there is a tool that can provide financial support in a crisis.
Theomou wrote to Insider that a bank can be taken over by the opposition in a worst-case scenario.
The second factor is that it is difficult to hack, which makes it a potentially valuable tool for sending aid.
Themou said that because of the secure nature of the coin, donations are safer than money donations, which can be easily targeted by criminals.
Chris Kline, co-founder and COO of Bitcoin IRA, said that there is nothing new about donations of cryptocurrencies. Russia's invasion of Ukraine will be a testing ground for the efficacy of using crypt to funnel aid.
This is the first time that this type of event will happen in the world.
Given that it is still the dominant coin, it should be the go-to option for donations. Both litecoin and cardano could be used.
The utility of ether and solana is different, and they don't seem to serve much of a purpose for this particular event.
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