Reported by: Turner Wright

A blockchain firm that partnered with the Ukrainian government to launch a donation website amid the country’s war with Russia has pushed back against online rumors and conspiracy theories that its platform was used for politically motivated money laundering. 

Ukrainian government officials partnered with Everstake, Kuna and the now infamous crypto exchange FTX to launch Aid for Ukraine in March, following the Russian invasion. According to Everstake, crypto users and Ukraine supporters sent roughly $60 million in crypto and fiat aimed at supporting Ukraine’s armed forces and other humanitarian causes. However, with FTX’s liquidity issues and bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried falling from grace, and legal action against the firm and its executives, social media users have taken many liberties with the truth over the final destination of the crypto donations.

The conspiracy theories promulgated online falsely claim that due to its association with FTX and Bankman-Fried’s previous political donations, Aid for Ukraine’s funds ended up being funneled to the United States Democratic Party. Among those spreading the rumors is U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina. An Everstake spokesperson branded the claims “Russian propaganda,” spread by “biased media, like Fox News and Russia Today.”

According to Everstake, the false claims do not “correspond with reality” given that the majority of the funds alreadywent toward helmets, bulletproof vests and night vision technology for Ukraine’s military, as the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reported in August. The spokesperson added that the situation with FTX “does not affect the operation of Aid For Ukraine,” as the platform only used the exchange “a few times” to convert crypto donations to fiat in March and had no funds stored on FTX at the time of its collapse.

Read full report: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ukraine-based-blockchain-firm-blasts-fake-news-for-crypto-donation-rumors-amid-ftx-collapse/amp