Aid for Ukraine DAO Raises Funds in Partnership With FTX

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, a Ukrainian by birth, adds a DAO to the disaster relief fund efforts in his home country that Russian troops have beset.

On Friday, the CEO of crypto staking service Everstake, Sergey Vasylchuk, spoke to the Solana podcast about a new relief effort to help Ukraine, Aid For Ukraine.

Vasylchuk contacted Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko to set up a Solana-based crypto relief effort decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in partnership with FTX.

Difficult to purchase necessities under martial law

Since martial law came into effect in Ukraine, the central bank imposed limitations that make foreign currency transactions difficult for volunteer organizations within Ukraine to make payments in USD to equipment providers to purchase critical military equipment. Crypto came to the rescue as a natural alternative, said Vasylchuk in a recent podcast interview.

Funds raised from the DAO are routed to a particular account recently opened at the central bank in Ukraine for donations toward humanitarian and military efforts. Crypto exchange FTX will handle the conversion from crypto to euros or dollars for deposit into the central bank.

Solana developers coded the smart contracts for the cryptocurrency donations, which can be made in SOL, Wrapped ETH, BTC, USDT, and NFTs. Everstake has contributed $375000 in SOL to the DAO, while three NFTs have been donated to the cause: “WOOFers #5326”, “sunflowers,” and “Chicky Town #658.”

How transparent is the DAO?

Vasylchuk’s DAO proposal was initially met with skepticism from Everstake’s business partners, who sought transparency on the use of the funds.

To fix this, Vasylchuk enlisted the help of the Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Commissioned a few years ago, the Ministry of Digital Transformation set out to digitize citizens’ documents and improve citizens’ access to high-speed internet.

Vasylchuk contacted the ministry, which agreed to post a plea for funds on their Twitter account. In addition, the deputy minister of digital transformation provided his own Solana key to the multi-sig wallet, where donations will be held before distribution. Vasylchuk then contacted the founders of a few “respectable companies” in Ukraine to provide their Solana keys and linked the Twitter accounts of these founders to the keys to legitimize the DAO. Furthermore, the DAO’s website states that 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.”

According to Bitpay, basic cryptocurrency wallets “need one signature to sign a transaction.” To send funds from a basic wallet, a transaction is created and signed. By signing the transaction, you are digitally saying: “I am the owner of the funds, I have the key to manage them, and I approve this transaction.” In the case of a multi-sig wallet, there are multiple signatures required to send funds. The Aid for Ukraine DAO has two signatories from the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, three from Everstake, and one from Distributed Lab.

Vasylchuk believes that the $1.45M raised thus far is not enough to impact the war, and hopes to advertise the DAO to a broader audience. Every crypto holder, including whales, can donate any amount, from $1 to $10M.

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