![]() It's just a few tech guys, like a dozen, right? They were working 25 hours per day without any breaks or weekends."Īnd that's where Aid for Ukraine came in: A crypto initiative started by Ukrainian companies like Vasylchuk's Everstake and the crypto exchange Kuna. ![]() "It's not like an agency which sits a big building. "You should understand: The Ministry of Digital Transformation is an experiment," Vasylchuk said. Tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency tokens soon flowed in. Shortly after Russia invaded, the Ukrainian government shared (opens in a new tab) its crypto wallet addresses online in order to fundraise for supplies. Not long after, Vasylchuk and a few others in the Ukrainian crypto industry reached out to Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, a fairly new government agency that looks to modernize the country with upstart technologies. So.crypto became one of the tools in order to pay the suppliers to buy all the necessities to support our business." "Banks were not able to transact in USD or transact outside the country. "Due to the Martial Law, the banking system in Ukraine was frozen," he said. Vasylchuk explained how when Russia's war in Ukraine first started, he immediately looked into finding ways to help. He is also one of five people authorized to sign off on the transfer of donated funds from the DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, that was set up for Aid for Ukraine. Vasylchuk is also the co-initiator of the Aid for Ukraine program, helping put it together since it launched in March. To understand Ukraine's partnership with FTX, I spoke with Sergey Vasylchuk, CEO of Ukrainian-based blockchain company, Everstake. (opens in a new tab) What was the FTX - Aid for Ukraine connection really about? Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) from spreading (opens in a new tab) the conspiracy theory. But that hasn't stopped right-wing media (opens in a new tab) figures, such as Fox News' Tucker Carlson, as well as U.S. There's no evidence to support these claims. Thus, a conspiracy theory is born claiming the money Biden sent to Ukraine was actually then funneled through FTX to Democratic candidates. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried spent a lot of money on the midterms, mainly donating to Democratic politicians. The Ukrainian government accepted crypto donations when the war started and later launched the Aid for Ukraine program, partnering with a few crypto companies including FTX in order to facilitate the monetary transfers. Ukraine has been a global leader when it comes to crypto adoption (opens in a new tab). ![]() The Biden administration has sent billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine in order to assist the country in the ongoing war that Russian president Vladimir Putin started in February. It's not hard to see how this "FTX laundered money through Ukraine to the Democrats" narrative came together: Throw in the fact that the Biden administration has increasingly sent more aid to the country in its war with Russia and you have the perfect storm for a right-wing conspiracy theory. It also had partnered (opens in a new tab) with Ukraine for its crypto donation program. That same week happened to see the Democrats exceed expectations in the elections, squashing the narrative of a "red wave." Looking for answers to how they underperformed, some conservative pundits and media figures discovered an interesting connection: The failing crypto exchange FTX was a major Democratic donor. Then, in just one week this November, the entire SBF empire crumbled, forcing FTX to file for bankruptcy after billions of dollars were withdrawn from the exchange in light of reports that found its trading firm, Alameda Research, was actually insolvent. midterm elections (opens in a new tab) and international aid (opens in a new tab) for Ukraine has turned the underpinnings of this tech-world cautionary tale into perfect fodder for right-wing conspiracy theorists.īack in 2019 FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, created his crypto empire and cemented himself in the following years as one of the biggest figures in the industry. But a case of bad timing involving the U.S. The dramatic and sudden collapse of FTX, one of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, was major headline news in its own right.
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