The Ukrainian government has raised over $10 million in cryptocurrency after it started accepting donations in crypto amidst an ongoing war with Russia. According to Ukraine’s official Twitter account, it has been accepting donations in BTC and ETH.

Bitcoin trading volumes denominated in the Russian ruble, the country’s fiat currency, have exploded last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine that has been deemed an invasion.

On-chain data shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses with a non-zero BTC balance has reached a new all-time high above 40 million. Moreover, wallets with a positive Bitcoin balance are holding onto them for longer periods.

CryptoCompare's Digital Asset Summit is returning on 30th March at Old Billingsgate, London. As Europe's flagship institutional summit for digital assets, this is the perfect opportunity to connect with key industry decision-makers and leading names in finance who are adopting and embracing the digital asset revolution.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Ukrainian Government Raises Over $10 Million in Crypto
• Ruble-Denominated Bitcoin Volumes Surge
• Non-Zero Bitcoin Addresses Hit New High
• Understanding Fiat Currencies and Bitcoin’s Supply Limit
• CCDAS Summit - Get 10% Off for Being a Loyal Reader

Ukrainian Government Raises Over $10 Million in Crypto

The Ukrainian government has raised over $10 million in cryptocurrency after it started accepting donations in crypto amidst an ongoing war with Russia. According to Ukraine’s official Twitter account, it has been accepting donations in BTC and ETH.

While some users were initially concerned that the posts were a scam, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared later that the cryptocurrency donation addresses had been confirmed by Ukrainian Ambassador Olex Scherba.

Data from the Ethereum blockchain shows that the account Ukraine shared has received over $5 million worth of ETH donations and over $1.3 million in other digital assets, including $1 million in USDT.

Similarly, the government’s Bitcoin address has received a total of 116.89 BTC worth over $4.4 million, while a TRON address shared by the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, received over $700,000 in USDT.

Ruble-Denominated Bitcoin Volumes Surge

Bitcoin trading volumes denominated in the Russian ruble, the country’s fiat currency, have exploded last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” against Ukraine that has been deemed an invasion.

CryptoCompare’s data shows that RUB denominated bitcoin volume jumped to 1.3 billion RUB on February 24, the day Russia’s military operations started, while a similar trend was seen on USDT – RUB trading volumes.

The spike in ruble-based cryptocurrency trading volumes came as economic sanctions hit Russia and the value of its fiat currency plunged more than 40% against the U.S. dollar, its biggest drop since 1998.

Similarly a Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange, Kuna, saw its trading volume explode after Russia’s invasion was launched. On average the exchange’s trading volume was hovering around 45 million Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH) per day. On the day Russian forces entered Ukraine, its trading volume exploded to 150 million UAH, equivalent to around $5 million.

Non-Zero Bitcoin Addresses Hit New High

On-chain data shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses with a non-zero BTC balance has reached a new all-time high above 40 million. Moreover, wallets with a positive Bitcoin balance are holding onto them for longer periods of time.

The number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses saw a steep rise through 2019 to mid-2021, when growth appeared to plateau at 35 million addresses. It has since then grown to a 40.2 million high this year.

Out of these addresses, 817,445 have one whole BTC in them. The figure represents a 10-month high for wallets with one while coin within them and appears to suggest Bitcoin users are looking to accumulate with time.

Data further shows that the amount of Bitcoin’s circulating supply that last moved between three and five years ago has just reached a four-year high above 2.8 million BTC.

Understanding Fiat Currencies and Bitcoin’s Supply Limit

While central banks throughout the world are able to increase the supply of their own currencies, only consensus in the Bitcoin network would allow for the 21 million limit to be raised. Increasing the supply of a currency can have disastrous effects including hyperinflation, which describes the rapid and excessive price increases in an economy.

The term fiat is used to describe government-issued currency that isn’t backed by a physical commodity such as gold or silver. Its value is derived from the relationship between supply and demand – and a government printing in excess could see supply greatly outstrip demand.

A currency backed by a physical commodity would, on the other hand, get its value from the value of the underlying commodity. Most fiat currencies used to be backed by a physical commodity, but governments moved away from this backing decades ago. In the U.S. the dollar was taken off the gold standard in 1971, for example.

Learn more about Bitcoin and fiat currencies via CryptoCompare’s guide.

CCDAS Summit - Get 10% Off for Being a Loyal Reader

CryptoCompare's Digital Asset Summit is returning on 30th March at Old Billingsgate, London. As Europe's flagship institutional summit for digital assets, this is the perfect opportunity to connect with key industry decision-makers and leading names in finance who are adopting and embracing the digital asset revolution.

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