Aid for Ukraine - an initiative between the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, Everstake (a Ukraine-based Web3 company), Solana (a public blockchain platform with smart contract functionality and whose native cryptocurrency is SOL) and the crypto community around the world, has already collected $1.4M in $SOL to date.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Sergey Vasylchuk, CEO at Everstake and Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-founder at Solana, are behind this project to help Ukraine fight the oppression and cover shortages of military ammunition, food supplies, clothing, medicine, and more. Everstake alone has donated $375,000 in $SOL.
Sergey Vasylchuk, CEO of Everstake and a Ukraine native, says that donations to the DAO would go towards the most urgent needs, medical, humanitarian and military as well and that the crypto would be converted to a special account opened by the Central Bank. The funds would be moved from the DAO to a centralized exchange—where it would be converted to Euros or USD—before being deposited in the central bank. Vasylchuck shared that just over $1.4M had been raised at this time.
The statement on the initiative’s web page says, “We’ve set up this DAO in partnership with some of these friends to raise funds in the wake of the war that’s overtaken our country. All funds collected through this effort will go directly towards aiding Ukrainians on the ground. We’re in close touch with all branches of the Ukrainian government and local NGOs. We will do our best to ensure funds raised get into the right hands, as quickly as possible. Aid for Ukraine is working closely with FTX to transfer digital assets into fiat currency. Funds will be deposited directly into a government account.”
“The situation on the ground is dynamic, and we’re continuing to evaluate the best way to get this money into where it’s most needed. We’ll post updates here as we distribute funds so you can keep up to date on our progress.”
How are the funds being held, and who’s in charge of distribution?
Donations are being held in a multisig wallet ahead of distribution. Members of the multisig wallet include: two representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, three representatives from Everstake, and one representative from Distributed Lab.