From the Ukrainian War to see the imagination of cryptocurrency "participating in war"

As I type these words, global cryptocurrency donations to Ukraine have surpassed $20 million. What kind of number is this? The total price of the ammunition and weapons sponsored by the Czech Republic a few days ago was about 8.57 million US dollars, that is, the amount of two Czech weapons donated by the currency circle around the world.

The amazing cryptocurrency donations have opened up a lot of imagination, and web3 has also rewritten the form of war donations, or provided another possibility, whichever it is is worth thinking about.

The Russo-Ukraine War may be the first war in modern history and since the surge of cryptocurrencies in 2020. From this time we can see several revolutionary changes.

The most direct and obvious change is probably fast. In the past, if you want to donate, you may have to remit internationally, and you will be charged a high handling fee in the middle, or you will go through a domestic "agent". Two days after the start of the war, the Ukrainian government directly disclosed the addresses of three currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and TRC20’s USDT.

There was an episode where some people suspected that the Ukrainian government really controlled these wallets. After multiple confirmations, the certification was safe. Chinese cryptocurrency tycoon Justin Sun took the lead in donating 200,000 USDT. I also saw a few Taiwanese friends Donate this way. V God originally warned to be careful about these addresses, but after verification, it was indeed the Ukrainian government, and he also deleted the previously questioned posts. However, be careful with cryptocurrency transfers in any case.

The Ukrainian government’s ability to use encryption technology so quickly may be due to the high penetration rate of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine and one of the countries with the largest retail investors in the world. Although Bitcoin has not been included in the official currency like El Salvador, it is presumed that everyone from the president to ordinary people in Ukraine Hands full of wallet app.

DAO+NFT

The second change is tentatively called "donation innovation". It uses two powerful tools of the blockchain: DAO and NFT. Part of NFT's soybean paste and Yu Cang have detailed descriptions ( this article and this article ). Let's talk about DAO here.

The most famous donation this time is "UkraineDAO", which was jointly established by the investment institution PleasrDAO, the Ukrainian NFT studio Trippy Labs, and the well-known Russian orchestra Pussy Riot. (Details refer to Coindesk report )

The method he adopted was quite unique. He designed a Ukrainian 🇺🇦 flag NFT, and then bought back the NFT he designed on the partybid website. Partybid is a website for crowdfunding to buy NFT. The highest bidder will get it within a limited time. UkraineDAO expects to raise at least 1,000 Ethereum, but giant whales began to join on the 27th. When I typed this article on the evening of the 28th, I checked the website and bid The price has reached 1103ETH, the crowdfunding amount has reached 1360ETH, 2180 people participated, and individuals are one of them. According to this trend, it seems that there should be no problem in bidding. There will be no big shots to grab the bid, right?

Crowdfunding DAOs will shine in 2020-21, such as Constitution DAO, Dune DAO, etc. UkraineDAO is different from the former two. Fundraising and bidding are both on the same website. The former two send people to the auction house to bid after the fundraising. Those who participate in UkraineDAO will receive a LOVE Token. My understanding is that it is a POAP. The official website also says that the love token has no effect and cannot be traded. It is just to commemorate your participation in sponsorship. Of course, this Token is quite meaningful. Compared with donating to the government, you can only open the chain record to prove that you have donated. This Token commemorates the participation process in a more obvious way.

The funds raised by UkraineDAO will be donated to Come back live, the largest humanitarian organization in Ukraine, which specializes in helping Ukrainian soldiers, volunteers and their families with many projects. In fact, this organization used Patreon in the United States to raise funds before, but was blocked by the government as "funding military personnel", and then turned to cryptocurrency to raise funds. His own donation address has received several million dollars in Bitcoin.

How to use so many cryptocurrencies raised? I was discussing this with a friend the other day. As far as UkraineDAO is concerned, if all goes well, the money will be transferred directly to the wallet address of the donating organization. I asked on Discord whether it needs to be converted into fiat currency to use it. The people from the UkraineDAO project team replied that many units in Ukraine accept cryptocurrency, and it depends on how the recipient organization handles it. Think about it too, after all, it is the top three countries in the world with the highest acceptance of cryptocurrency, and there should be no shortage of units willing to accept encrypted payments.

Since the Come back live website has been down, it is impossible to see how the organization uses the donations. This made me think about the issue of accountability. Usually, charitable organizations usually make public financial reports. How should the Ukrainian government account for the whereabouts of the money when it accepts encrypted donations? I haven’t found any relevant discussions so far. Considering that Ukraine is still busy fighting, it may not be the time to talk about accountability, but if the government receives donations in an era of peace, there must be a more professional accountability mechanism.

Encryption and War

All of the above funds raised with cryptocurrencies, I personally feel that it has greatly changed the nature of "international support". Doesn't this show the international "public opinion", which can be measured by currency value.

Imagine any country involved in a war in the future. It is obvious which side receives more cryptocurrencies, which side the international public opinion is on. Given that freedom and democracy are universal values, it is inevitable that democratic countries will receive more Cryptocurrency donations. To put it more clearly, if one day Taiwan is invaded by China, as long as Taiwan still adheres to the line of freedom and democracy, and Taiwan discloses the wallet address, it will not be afraid that friends all over the world will support (donate coins). What's more, no one should want to donate coins to China, and China also bans cryptocurrencies.

To some extent, the Russo-Ukraine war clearly shows the difference between authoritarian countries and democracies. Autocratic countries rely on the government, while democracies are self-sufficient and supportive forces transcend national borders. In the "virtual battlefield of the metaverse", war is not Russia. Both sides of Ukraine, but also Russia and the whole world.

Of course, if you lose to the army in reality, the virtual influence still has its limit.

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