Ukraine’s ‘Father of Crypto’ Says War Has Changed the Crypto Scene

Key Insights:

• Founder of KUNA, Michael Chobanian, discussed the state of crypto before and after the war.
• He said that crypto had become the most valuable currency in Ukraine.
• Instead of joining the army, Michael became a crypto banker for the government.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy that will not be forgotten for its ruthlessness, lack of mercy, and shameful tactics of Russia. However, in the most unfortunate times, some benefits came to the world of crypto in the form of adoption.

Discussing the same in an interview with Bloomberg, the Founder of Ukraine’s biggest crypto exchange, KUNA, Michael Chobanian, stated how much the crypto scene has changed in the last month.

Ukraine and Crypto

Michael has been an advocate for all things crypto for more than eight years. Being a full-time crypto actor since 2013, Michael has faced raids by the government and other troubles early on.

And to prevent the same, he has been leading the Blockchain Association of Ukraine as President to protect crypto businesses. However, the most significant changes in Ukraine’s crypto space only came at the beginning of this war.

As per Michael, KUNA was used to handling $1 million to $4 million of volume every day before the war. But since February 24, a lot changed, and crypto became and prominent and essential element in the war efforts.

Today, the once primary mode of payment, USD and Cash, has become useless.

“Considering that you can’t really move cash outside of the country and you cannot store it securely, no one really wants it. Now the most valuable form of money in Ukraine is crypto. Everyone wants crypto because this is the fastest, the most flexible, easiest, and least bureaucratic way to store and spend your money. Crypto is the new king of money in Ukraine.”

The amount of donations that Ukraine has received in crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) has funded the war efforts with more than 5,500 bulletproof vests, 500 helmets, night-vision goggles, and medicine.

Consequently, instead of joining the army, Michael became a crypto banker for the government. He stated,

“I’m in charge of collecting, fundraising, and storing crypto, and also exchanging crypto to crypto and crypto to fiat, opening bank accounts for intermediaries or for the government, and then buying whatever is required by the Ministry of Defense. We also find the suppliers who are willing to sell us humanitarian goods, or helmets, or bulletproof vests for crypto. So I’m in charge of this virtual government crypto fund.”

The Crypto Efforts

Ukraine has raised over $100 million in crypto donations to aid the war efforts in the last month. This includes cryptocurrency donations, NFT sales, and more.

In addition to the same, as reported by FXEmpire, the Ukrainian government even launched the NFT War Museum, proceeds from which would go towards helping the government.

While on the other hand, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, has been visiting countries, appealing for support to evade Western sanctions.

In a visit to India today, Sergei stated that India and Russia are friends, appreciating the country’s non-biased views, and also added that going ahead,

“It is absolutely clear that more and more transactions would be done through this system using national currencies, bypassing dollar, euro and other currencies.”