Cryptocurrencies are playing an unprecedented role in the Ukraine-Russia crisis. At least $13 million has been sent to digital wallets owned by the Ukraine government following appeals on Twitter last Saturday. While nations like El Salvador have embraced cryptocurrencies, this is the first time direct donations of this kind have funded a world government. 

Following an initial Tweet from the Ukranian government's official account, Vice-President Mykhailo Fedorov published digital wallet addresses for coins like Bitcoin and Ether. He wrote: "Stand with the people of Ukraine. Now accepting cryptocurrency donations." 

According to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, by Monday morning donations had reached $12.8 million from at least 17,300 addresses. 

The Reserve Fund of Ukraine appears to be the biggest recipient, which is backed by the country's native cryptocurrency exchange called Kuna. The Reserve Fund's official Telegram channel also confirmed $13 million had been raised through BTC, ETH and USDT. 

Meanwhile, non-government organisation Come Back Alive has announced donations over $7.2 million in BTC donations to its wallet address. The charity began accepting donations following the war in Donbas in 2014, and this figure is believed to include funds since that time. 

Russian feminist protest group Pussy Riot are also involved in crypto resistance, with member Nadya Tolokonnikova putting up for auction an NFT Ukranian flag. Currently the highest bid is at $2.89 million. 

The Unchain Fund is another crypto initiative to help Ukraine's resistance through altcoins like NEAR, Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD) and more. The fund has raised over $1.5 million so far for medicine, evacuation and repair needs, food and clothes. The organisation only accepts donations in crypto and uses multi-sig wallets for transparency. The project has reportedly won support from Vitalik Buterin, Solana, NEAR, Harmony, Polygon, Gnosis, Gitcoin and more.

Other crypto projects have also pledged support if the Ukranian government can create new digital wallet addresses. Sunny Lu (CEO of Vechain) Tweeted the Ukraine government to pledge $8 million if a VET address could be provided. The creator of Polkadot, Gavin Wood, also pledged $5 million if Ukraine could provide a DOT address.

Other crypto projects are also getting involved to spread messages of goodwill. EverGrow Coin, a project known to back positivity in the crypto space, has also announced a 5 billion $EGC giveaway to promote peace & solidarity. EverGrow Coin's chairman, Sam Kelly, Tweeted a message of support to Ukraine and drawing on family experiences during Europe's last great wars.