Russia-Ukraine war: How both sides of the conflict have used crypto to win
Within the Russia-Ukraine battle, each side of the battle have been leveraging cryptocurrencies to attain the higher hand.
Professional-Ukraine causes have collected round $200 million from crypto donations, displaying how borderless and uncensorable cash might be helpful in time of emergency.
However the Russian aspect has taken benefit of crypto too: a complete of about $5 million was raised by pro-Kremlin teams and propaganda retailers in the middle of the invasion, as revealed by a latest Chainalysis report. These entities are small grassroot organizations which have used crypto to bypass western monetary sanctions.
“We’re actually particular person actors. So anyone who’s on the entrance, anyone who’s attempting to assist present extra navy assets to the entrance […] issues like bulletproof vests or drones,” defined Andrew Fierman, head of Sanctions Technique at Chainalysis and one of many authors of the report.
However these numbers don’t take note of ransomware assaults: As proven in Chainalysis knowledge, in the middle of 2022, over $450 million had been paid to those entities, the vast majority of which had been believed to be primarily based in Russia. A few of them, just like the cybercriminal group Conti, have brazenly supported the Russian authorities in its battle effort.
“In terms of ransomware funds, a number of the time unhealthy actors have some kind of political agendas behind what they’re doing,” Fierman identified.
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