Ukraine’s government has seized and blocked crypto wallets belonging to a Russian “volunteer” raising funds for the country’s forces invading Ukraine. According to the press release by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), several foreign crypto companies helped Ukraine seize the funds.
Russian ‘Volunteer’ Raised Over $19.5K in Crypto to Support Russian Forces
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has reportedly seized and blocked a cryptocurrency wallet owned by a Russian resident who has been raising funds to back Russian forces invading Ukraine. The move marks the first time the SSU used a specific mechanism to seize and block the funds.
According to the SSU’s press release, the move was made possible thanks to the evidence the government agency gathered with the aid of foreign crypto companies. The agency is now attempting to track and transfer the seized funds to Ukraine jurisdiction.
The Russian individual, who calls himself “a volunteer”, has been raising funds for Russian forces since its full-scale invasion earlier this year. The SSU says the individual has amassed more than $19,500 in their crypto wallet when it was blocked.
“The investigation established that the ‘volunteer’ directed a significant portion of donations to purchase military gear for the militants of the terrorist organizations L/DNR.”
The SSU added the man has also used social platforms to urge more people to provide financial aid to Russian military forces. To achieve this, the individual “created relevant photo and video content, distributed similar posts of his associates, and reported how the collected funds had been used.”
Ukraine and Russia Both Raising Crypto Funds for War Supplies
Interestingly, both Ukraine and Russian forces have been accepting crypto donations to help them win the war, with Ukraine pouring $54 million worth of crypto donations on war supplies last week. The crypto trading volume in Ukraine remained strong even after the country’s central bank banned crypto transactions. Russian President Vladimir Putin also banned digital payments in Russia last month.
Blockchain analysis firm Chanalysis recently reported that 54 groups supporting Russia have bagged more than $2.2 million worth of crypto donations as of July end. The donations were mainly made in BTC and ETH, the report states.
The SSU said it plans to continue tracking down other Russian sponsors, emphasizing that “a similar fate awaits other Russian ‘volunteers’ who sponsor the war in Ukraine.” The Ukrainian government secured $104,000 after selling donated CryptoPunk non-fungible tokens (NFTs) at a 50% loss.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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