In an unprecedented move, blockchain solutions have demonstrated their power to contribute to the humanitarian effort for the Ukrainian people and support their beleaguered government. Ukranian Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal's made a call for donations on social networks by posting three links allowing anyone to send bitcoin, ether and stablecoin USDT to digital wallets :

Since then, donations with other cryptocurrencies have been possible, including polkadot or even dogecoin, for example.
The distribution of digital assets received by the Ukrainian government
Source : Elliptic
Crypto fundraising in Ukraine
Source : Elliptic
Keep in mind that no less than 63.8 million dollars have been raised so far by the crypto funds dedicated to support Ukraine, and the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Alex Bornyakov, was quick to react to this surge of generosity. 
"A big thank you to everyone who donated to the Crypto Fund for Ukraine. Every helmet and vest purchased via cryptocurrency donations is currently saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers" .
 
The deputy minister even went so far as to share on Twitter the list of equipment purchased through cryptocurrency donations. 
- 5550 bulletproof vests
- 500 combat helmets
- 3427 medical kits
- 410,000 food rations
- 60 walkie-talkies
- 3125 night vision and thermal equipment
 
Donations from the sale of NFTs (nonfungible tokens), the certificates of authenticity for digital objects, also contributed to the humanitarian effort. A CryptoPunk NFT worth over $200,000 was sent to the Ukrainian government's Ethereum account. Other NFTs worth millions of dollars were also sold, such as a Ukrainian flag NFT sold for $6.5 million in ether, making it one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold. 
 
The Ukrainian government has even launched a site in partnership with FTX, a cryptocurrency platform, that allows bitcoins and cryptocurrencies to be sent directly to the Ukrainian central bank. It is clear that blockchain solutions have helped and are still helping to support Ukraine in the face of its current horrendous situation. But does Russia benefit from it too? 
 
Russia facing cryptos 
 
Initially, the platforms Coinbase and Binance refused to cut off Russian addresses and emphasized their apolitical nature. However, both exchange platforms claimed that they now respect international sanctions by blocking access to Russian oligarchs. While Binance has not given any figures on the blocking of Russian addresses, the American platform Coinbase has claimed to have identified and frozen no less than 25,000 addresses with "a direct or indirect link to problematic individuals and entities".
 
To boost its image, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced, via the entity "Binance Charity", to have made a donation of $ 2.5 million in cryptocurrencies to UNICEF for Ukraine. Yes because you may not know this, but UNICEF has created a fund in 2019 that allows it to receive, hold and disburse donations in cryptocurrencies. So, the United Nations Children's Fund is not the first time it has done this. 
 
It should be noted that Russia is no stranger to cryptocurrencies. It is difficult to estimate the exact amount of crypto held by the Russian people, but sources range from $22 billion to $220 billion regarding the amount of crypto held by Russian investors. The country is also responsible for nearly 14% of the BTC hashing power needed to validate blocks on the network, it is the third largest bitcoin mining center in the world after the US and Kazakhstan. 
 
Russian crypto-investors tremble 
 
According to a Reuters report, Swiss brokers have reportedly received numerous requests to liquidate crypto positions at a time when sanctions are being imposed on Russian assets. Brokers cite the fact that Russian clients are afraid of having their assets frozen and are therefore looking for safe countries to invest. But there's a catch for these wealthy clients. Switzerland has stated that crypto assets are subject to the same sanctions and measures as other Western countries. Under this framework, those sanctioned could most likely have their digital assets frozen in Switzerland. 
 
For their part, cryptocurrency mining companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are "inundated with requests to liquidate billions of dollars of virtual currency as Russians seek a haven for their wealth." The UAE is not taking sides between the West and Russia, which may be interpreted as a strong signal to Russian investors that this is a safe haven for their funds. 
 
The UAE has been placed on a "grey list" for enhanced monitoring by the Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Monitoring Group (FATF) at a time when Westerners have said they are skeptical of the UAE's crackdown on Russian wealth in the Gulf state, citing the country's neutral stance in the conflict.  
 
So even though major platforms such as Coinbase or Binance are taking relatively strict measures to ensure that cryptos are not used as a means to evade sanctions, and say they are cooperating with law enforcement, crypto money flows may already have taken place. The United Arab Emirates, by being relatively flexible on the terms of regulation and authorities regarding crypto transfers, may well be taking advantage of crypto coming from Russia. It is worth noting, that the more adept Russian investors, have potentially been able to quickly send their funds to other platforms, decentralized or centralized, sometimes obscure, to escape Western sanctions applied on majors such as Coinbase and Binance.