As crypto market participants have expressed support for Ukraine, more goodwill continues to flood in. LocalBitcoins, a renowned global peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, has shown its support for Ukraine during this difficult time.
LocalBitcoins, a cryptocurrency exchange, is a supporter of Ukraine.
LocalBitcoins is waiving trading costs for Ukrainians using the exchange, both inside and outside the nation, until further notice as a gesture of support. LocalBitcoins’ Chief Marketing Officer, Jukka Blomberg, stated in a press release:
LocalBitcoins’ core value is freedom. We understand that at the moment Ukraine is facing extremely challenging times. For this reason, LocalBitcoins has removed all fees from its Ukrainian users.
The exchange said on Twitter that the move implies that all registered Ukrainians now have access to a free Bitcoin wallet. Ukraine will also be able to convert contributed Bitcoins into Hryvnia, their local currency.
In the roughly seven days that the war has lasted, cryptocurrency transactions have witnessed a significant increase in both Ukraine and Russia. According to Coin Metrics, crypto exchanges in Ukraine, including Binance, LocalBitcoins, and Kuna, have experienced substantial growth. According to the article, Hryvnia trading pairings with Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and stablecoins like Tether (USDT) have reached some of their greatest levels ever.
Meanwhile, the crypto community continues to mobilize massively in favor of Ukraine. According to SlowMist’s dashboard monitoring the various crypto wallets, crypto donations to the Ukrainian government, as well as other entities and NGOs supporting the country, have topped $50.9 million.
Ukraine’s government has also been increasing the number of cryptocurrencies it accepts as donations. It has introduced an official Dogecoin (DOGE) wallet today, after adding a Polkadot (DOT) wallet yesterday. Ukraine has also declared that it will do a cryptocurrency airdrop.
The price of bitcoin continues to rise.
Bitcoin’s price has been steadily rising in recent days, reaching an intraday high of $44,634 today. Bitcoin, however, is currently trading at roughly $43,700, down 1.8 percent in the last 24 hours.
As governments try to isolate Russia’s economy, the market has defied predictions that sanctions may be imposed on cryptocurrency. Analysts, on the other hand, have downplayed the concerns, claiming that crypto, particularly Bitcoin, which is a public ledger, would not be viable for Russia to utilize to escape sanctions.
