Ukraine received huge donations in 2022 and continues to do so which helped Ukraine in taking up the fight against Russia.
However, it is also true that even Russia’s efforts of invading Ukraine were sponsored by donations but only a few know about it. This is a huge revelation that seems to have shaken the entire crypto market.
It is also very alarming news for the entire world, making things a lot worse for the ‘already struggling’ cryptocurrency industry.
Study Finds Russian Invasion of Ukraine Was Also Sponsored
The study of Hapi Labs revealed that Ukrainian crypto exchanges received foreign donations of over $40 Million in 2022.
Most importantly, these forty million dollars plus donations were sent in the shape of a variety of digital currencies. The majority of these donations were sent to Ukraine in the form of cryptocurrencies.
The study however noted further that the same donors’ accounts were also seen funding Russia’s activities of war and terror. Shockingly, the same accounts were seen sending donations to Russian addresses as well.
This has raised many concerns among market observers as to what might be the true motive of the contributors in sending donations to both countries.
It was noted by Hapi Labs that funds were also given to Russian crypto exchanges for handing them over to the Russian Government. The purpose behind this was to fund Russia’s efforts in invading Ukraine.
On the other side, funds were donated to Ukraine for countering Russia’s efforts of invading Ukraine.
The study pointed out that most of such funds were donated directly by philanthropists to the crypto trading platform of Binance.
So on one side, Binance was providing donations to Ukraine and on the other sending donations to Russia to boost war activities.
Hapi Labs said in a Twitter post that the donations to Russia were funds that were to be whitened as they were proceeds of crimes. The study compiler also alleged that funds to Russia were meant to be laundered.
Binance A Contributor In Russia-Ukraine War
Amongst all this, Binance was put in a situation in which nobody wants to be. Since Binance is a global firm and that it also has a huge clientele from Russia and Ukraine, it became directly involved in the war.
Russian supporters were donating funds to Russia through Binance. Similarly, Ukraine supporters were also using Binance’s platform for providing funds to Ukraine.
Binance had become a common fund distributor for the two nations of Ukraine and Russia simultaneously.
According to Hapi Labs, over 95% of crypto donations in 2022 were distributed through none other than Binance.
Both countries were appreciating the services of Binance during tested times while Binance decided not to make any comment.
However, Ukraine was in particular not aware that Binance was also the custodian of donations to Russia in substantially increasing invasion efforts.
Now that everybody knows Binance’s role in the war, Hapi Labs has raised various accusations against Binance.
The Ukrainian startup suggested that Binance has one more time been proven to be a bad actor in the digital asset industry.
Hapi Labs accused that when donations to Russia were coming, Binance ignored the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy and procedures.
According to Hapi Labs, though the majority of donations were meant for Ukraine, however, Russian donations were also considerable.
The entity noted that as compared to Ukraine donations, Russian donations were more than just ‘small’.
Binance Described By Competitors
A few days ago, one of the FTX’s officials posted a tweet in which the official mocked Binance for playing a double-agent role in the war.
The official said that Binance may be the pioneer in the industry yet it needs a fair amount of sense and responsibility in taking sides. Preferably it should realize that it cannot take sides with the aggressor.
Similarly, other global crypto platforms such as FTX, 1inch, KuCoin, and Whitebit were amongst the top fund-raisers for Ukraine after Binance.