Today in Crypto: Ukraine Gets $10M in Crypto Donations; US DOJ Charges BitConnect Founder in Connection to $2.4B Scam

The swift recovery of bitcoin from its lows has seen some investors happy for a potential rebound, CoinDesk reported Friday (Feb. 25).

According to the report, the rebound is likely to continue and some of the activity in the options market suggests they could be correct.

Data from derivatives research firm Skew show the one-week implied volatility jumped to an annualized 75% as of Thursday (Feb. 24). That was an improvement on the recent gauges, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushing investors to ditch risky assets for gold and fiat currency.

Meanwhile, CoinDesk also reported that Flexpool, the world’s fifth-largest ethereum mining pool, is one of the first of its kind to cut services to Russia because of the invasion, with the idea being to show solidarity with Ukraine.

“We generally do not get involved in politics despite our personal views as a company,” a Flexpool spokesperson said on the company’s Telegram channel Thursday (Feb. 24). “However, this is greater than politics, greater than anyone. This is a war that may end the world. It certainly is ending the lives of many innocent people in Eastern Europe.”

In other news, a volunteer group of Ukranians providing equipment to the country’s army has received over $4 million in bitcoin donations since Russia’s invasion last week, Reuters reported Friday.

Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic said the donations had surged as the Russian army stationed itself near the Ukraine border, but there had been even more donations since last week.

One group, Come Back Alive, was the recipient of $3 million in a lone Friday donation, according to the report.

Furthermore, a federal grand jury in San Diego has charged the founder of BitConnect, 36-year-old Satish Kumbhani, with making a global Ponzi scheme, according to a Friday press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

BitConnect was allegedly a fraudulent crypto investment platform.

Kumbhani and cohorts reportedly touted the abilities of BitConnect to garner big revenues, but the company was a Ponzi scheme because it reportedly paid earlier investors with money from later investors, with the defendants getting around $2.4 billion total.

Finally, the Ukrainian government has raised over $10 million in crypto donations, CNBC reported Sunday (Feb. 27), as the Russian invasion has been going on for the past several days.

The Twitter account for the government posted addresses for two crypto wallets, one for only bitcoin and the other accepting ether and tether, and the money has been coming in. According to Elliptic, around $1.86 million of the money donated came from a non-fungible token (NFT) sale, per the report.