By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Using the new feature, anyone who wishes to donate to support Ukraine can connect their wallet to the DEX.
Decentralized exchange, Uniswap, has announced the launch of a new interface to convert altcoins to ether and aid crypto donations to Ukraine. According to the company, the Ukrainian government’s crypto wallet addresses are hosted on a centralized exchange, limiting donations from altcoin holders.
Recall that the Ukrainian government sought support from the cryptocurrency community via Twitter in the crisis escalated by Russia. The country posted both a bitcoin and ether wallet address to receive donations. Elliptic estimates that these wallets have received donations worth well over $20 million at the time of writing.
Altcoins to the Rescue of People in Ukraine?
According to Uniswap, many more people holding altcoins have been prevented from donating. Its new feature will allow the conversion of any ERC-20 token directly to Ether. Subsequently, this is transferred to the government’s Ether address all in one transaction.
Using the new feature, anyone who wishes to donate to support Ukraine can connect their wallet to the DEX. The feature also addresses the concerns of some members of the crypto community who want a more secure custodial solution.
In a similar move, the Ukrainian government announced support for Polkadot, adding a Polkadot address. Leading the way, Polkadot founder, Gavin Wood, donated $5.8 million worth of DOT to the new address. The government also announced pending support for more cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency Helping in More Ways Than One
So far, data from Cointelegraph suggests that donations to Ukraine have now exceeded $50 million. The donation is spread between the government, NGOs, and DAOs. The data however does not track donations made between individuals and those made using altcoins.
The Ukrainian government has expressed its gratitude for the support on Twitter. It said, “The people of Ukraine are grateful for the support and donations from the global crypto community as we protect our freedom.”
Meanwhile, many Ukrainians have resorted to cryptocurrency to insure their holdings as the attack from Russia continues. Research by Arcane shows that the trading volume of Tether-hryvnia and Bitcoin-hryvnia have shot ups significantly over the past few weeks.
According to the report, “many Ukrainians worry that the banking system in the country may collapse and are seeking to crypto as a safe haven.”