Some of the military suppliers to Ukraine have crypto accounts, said the Ukraine government.
Some of Ukraine’s weapons suppliers are accepting payments directly in crypto, a senior official told CoinDesk Monday.
Ukraine “weaponized” crypto after Russia invaded the European nation at the end of February, raising over $60 million in bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies and immediately spending some of these funds on fuel, food and other supplies – including bulletproof vests for soldiers.
Ukraine’s de facto crypto ministry, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, is facilitating the buying of military equipment based on the demands of the Ministry of Defense, said Alex Bornyakov, the deputy minister at the ministry. The operation involves Kuna, the Ukrainian exchange that set up the donation addresses; two ministries; five signatories and several other government officials as key players.
Spending crypto
At least three of five authorized signatories have to approve any expenditure of Ukraine’s crypto funds. The process has been put in place in order to avoid a situation in which signatories are stuck in bunkers or incommunicado.
“Most of the people are in Ukraine. And it is a terrible situation right now. The war zone is in different parts of Ukraine. It is possible that people could be in a shelter or they can lose connection for days and so we have to have a redundancy plan just in case someone can’t be in touch,” Bornyakov said. The ministry is working with Ukraine’s Kuna exchange in a public-private partnership as the exchange already had an infrastructure in place to receive the funds or transact on behalf of the government.