DeFI News by Thebittimes.Com

As narratives about corruption in Ukraine evolve, the Ministry of Digital Transformation hopes blockchain could solve that problem. While Ukraine still ranked the second most corrupt country in Europe, after Russia, it is now exploring new ways to battle corruption for fear of losing support from the West. The head of the virtual assets expert group at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Yulia Parkhomenko, spoke at the panel discussion held by the Center for Strategic & International Studies. She said the ministry sees new possibilities in blockchain technology in making the Ukrainian government more transparent. She particularly noted that blockchain can “reliably protect” state ledgers from unauthorized access, increase their transparency, and “reduce corruption in state entities that oversee them.” “Alongside experts, we are exploring international experience of using blockchain on a state level and develop our own strateg...

Hong Kong-based OTCs say the region has become a safe harbor not only for crypto multimillionaires but for ordinary people, too. As the ongoing international conflict between Russia and Ukraine keeps unfolding, many citizens of both countries turned to Hong Kong, seeking safety for their money in crypto. Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain forensic firm, citing Hong Kong-based over-the-counter (OTC) firms, revealed that “many Russians and Ukrainians are coming to Hong Kong to get their money to safety using crypto .” In a commentary to Chainalysis, Merton Lam, founder of one of the largest crypto OTCs in Hong Kong called CryptoHK, said that for high net worth individuals crypto has become a “part of their investment portfolio.” “They mostly want Bitcoin and Ether, though some have shown interest in smaller altcoins recently, which is interesting.” Merton Lam Merton did not go into details but noted that “ordinary people” al...

Ether leads the way in donations with $28.9 million received so far, while BTC and USDT donors have chipped in $22.8 million and $11.59 million respectively. Ukraine has received over $70 million in the form of cryptocurrencies since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, providing the nation with military equipment and humanitarian assistance. The figures came from a Feb. 24 report by Blockchain data platform Chainalysis, which found the majority of the funds to have come in the form of Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). ETH donors led the way with $28.9 million given, while donors of BTC and Tether (USDT) chipped in $22.8 million and $11.59 million respectively. Cryptocurrencies donated to Ukraine wallets provided by the Ukrainian government. Source: Chainalysis. Donations have also come in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), such as UkraineDAO’s auction of a Ukrainian flag NFT which sold for $6.1 million. Around 80% of the total $70 million donated came in the first few months...