Ukraine’s spent over $38M of crypto funds on military equipment

In the spirit of transparency, Ukraine’s Ministry for Digital Transformation has published a financial report detailing how it spent the $54.6 million worth of funds raised from the crypto community.

Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov shared the report in a tweet on Aug. 17, with most of the expenditure going in support of the military fight.

With $54 M raised by @_AidForUkraine, we’ve supplied our defenders with military equipment, armor clothes, medicines and even vehicles. Thanks to the crypto community for support since the start of the full-scale invasion! Donation by donation to the big victory. Report below. pic.twitter.com/lifHAP8R4f

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) August 17, 2022

Expenditure highlights

A closer look into the specifics of the report shows that Ukraine spent the most on funding its military endeavors – more than $38 million.

The military expenditures included $11.9 million spent to purchase UAVs, $7 million on purchasing armored vests, $3.8 million on field rations, $2.7 million on military clothing and accessories, and $1.7 million on thermal imagers.

Medicine and military medical kits incurred $1.3 million and $1.2 million in expenses, respectively. The country also purchased Radio Communication kits for $351,146 and communications devices for $924,618.

Some items were considered confidential as releasing more details could pose a threat amidst the ongoing war. The confidential items include $5.7 million spent on computer hardware and software, $5.3 million spent on a worldwide anti-war campaign, and $5.1 million spent on buying weapons at the request of the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry said it is will provide a detailed list of every penny spent on an ongoing basis. Ukraine also launched an English news platform, United24, to provide real-time updates on the state of the war and weekly reports on how donations are utilized.

Crypto community’s support for Ukraine

The $54.6 million accounted for by the Ministry is a part of the story of how much the crypto community supported Ukraine’s war effort.

In the wake of the war, the deputy minister Ministry of Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov in an interview confirmed that $100 million was received from the crypto community, while $60 million was managed by @_AidForUkraine through the Kuna crypto exchange.

Many supporters also gave up their expensive NFTs to the cause. Ukraine DAO auctioned off an NFT of the country’s flag and it sold for $6.75 million, while an individual donated a CryptoPunk NFT.

In appreciation, Ukraine had planned to conduct an airdrop for donors but backtracked after due consideration given the rise of many micro-donations.

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