Ukraine Spent $54M in Crypto on Drones and Other Military Expenses

The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine said that the country spent its crypto donations on drones and military software among other expenses.

By Emily Tonelli

Tanks in Kyiv, Ukraine. Image: Shutterstock

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, shared yesterday how $54 million of the country’s crypto donations have been spent. 

Unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) were the highest cost at $11.8 million. After that, the country spent $6.9 million on armored vests and $5.7 million on computer hardware and software.

Overview of crypto fund spending. Source: Twitter.

“Thanks to the crypto community for support since the start of the full-scale invasion," Fedorov tweeted.

Over $60 million of crypto donations have been donated since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, according to the organization.

The donations were facilitated by Aid For Ukraine, a non-profit organization powered by crypto exchange FTX, Everstake, Kuna, and the Ministry of Digital Transformations of Ukraine, supporting both humanitarian efforts and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

Decrypt has yet to receive a reply for more information from Aid for Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Crypto in Ukraine

Crypto has been an important player since the invasion began, giving people all over the world and even in Russia a way to support Ukrainian efforts. 

On February 26, the Ukrainian government tweeted Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polkadot addresses for donations to “Stand with the people of Ukraine.” One week later, the government received a total of $50 million in crypto donations. 

Donations included $5 million from Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood, a $200,000 CryptoPunk, and a $1.26 million donation from selling an NFT by Julian Assange and digital artist Pak, according to a report from Elliptic. 

Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-Canadian co-founder of Ethereum, donated $2.5 million Ethereum to Aid for Ukraine, “worth 31,000 medical kits, 364,000 medical supplies, and 585 radio kits and stations for the Ukrainian military," said the non-profit.

Using blockchain to their advantage, the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformations also launched the Meta History Museum of War, featuring ready-to-buy NFTs of recent chronicles of war-time events and happenings. 

“While Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech,” tweeted Fedorov.