War in Ukraine, now the government asks for Bitcoin donations on Twitter. And it’s not a scam

The first Bitcoin request to circulate was the one posted on the @Ukraine Twitter account. It is not an official government profile but a tourism-related project that in recent days had made itself known for the publication of comments and cartoons about the invasion of Russia. One of the latest is the caricature of Adolf Hitler which compliments a Vladimir Putin in child-apprentice version. The message is clear: «Fight with the Ukrainian people. Cryptocurrency donations are now being accepted. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. And then two codes, one for Bitcoin donations and one for Ethereum and USDT donations. We have seen hundreds of these messages in recent years ». In 2020 similar messages had appeared in a massive cyber attack involving Elon MuskTim Cook and Joe Biden.

Early responses to the message were reminiscent of these episodes, with many comments suggesting not to deposit Bitcoin. Among the many also that of Vitalik Buterin, the Russian programmer who founded Ethereum. It was he himself who advised against depositing cryptocurrencies to avoid falling into scams. Then the confirmation: several official accounts have started tweeting that the request is legitimate and Buterin himself deleted his tweet to write another message: «I got some confirmations from a couple of sources: the request is legitimate. I’ve cleared my warning for now. Continue to be careful before sending crypto ».

Help message to Elon Musk

Similar requests also came from Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine with responsibility for digital transformation. Fedorov in another tweet commented: «The crypto community of Ukraine is ready to provide a generous reward for any information on the crypto wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians. War crimes must be prosecuted and punished! ». Fedorov also requested direct intervention from Elon Musk: “While you are trying to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to colonize Ukraine”.