Binance To Donate $10M To Aid Human Crisis In Ukraine

Binance Charity Foundation will donate $10 million through several non-profits to support displaced families and children during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The crypto exchange is also running a donation page called Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund through which people can donate crypto to help in the crisis. It published an announcement about the aid today saying that people have already contributed $6 million worth of BNB crypto tokens through the initiative. These contributions have come from 235 donors. The platform, which tracks each crypto transaction detailing the amount sent to the fund and time, targets to raise $20 million in total. 

NFT For Good is also part of the Binance fundraising initiative through which people can contribute their art and creativity. The project rewards volunteers with service NFT medals. Those participating in the Ukraine charity initiative will be rewarded with NFTs as service medals.  

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the money will go towards providing food, fuel, supplies, and shelter for Ukrainians, some of who are Binance community members. The money will assist 7.5 million children in the war-torn country in addition to other refugees and internally displaced persons. 

Over 400,000 Ukrainians have already been displaced within a few days of conflict and war with Russia. Most of them have already crossed to the neighboring Poland and others Hungary, Moldova, and Romania. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center website, however, indicates that over 100,000 Ukrainians have been internally displaced since February 24 as a result of the conflict with Russia. More have been displaced due to natural causes like earthquakes and floods. 

The donation from Binance is part of the total crypto donations to Ukraine. Although the Ukrainian military had initially refused to receive donations in cryptocurrencies citing legal reasons, it changed its mind on Saturday and shared crypto wallet addresses on its Twitter page through which the donations can be sent. However, some of the crypto donations are being sent through non-profits including Return Alive. 

Elliptic blockchain analytic firm estimates that the country has so far received over $19 million in total crypto donations since the crisis restarted. Part of the $19 million came from Binance according to the firm. Another donation amounting to $1.86 million sent to Ukraine also came from the sale of NFTs intended to raise funds for Julian Assange. There, however, have been claims that these donations are being used to buy weapons for the Russia-Ukraine war.