Patricia Travassos: Cryptocurrencies Are Used in War for Protection and Donations

THE CNN Specialist in technology, Patricia Travassos, spoke this Wednesday (23) about the uses of cryptocurrencies at the conflict between Russia and Ukrainewhich range from protecting financial assets to a way to gather donations to help those affected by war.

According to Travassos, “cryptocurrencies have already proven themselves in this war to be an alternative to the traditional system, both for Russians and Ukrainians, despite the high volatility”.

She recalls that digital currencies were created to make international financial transactions cheaper and faster, and in general they are not linked to a country and have no borders. Today, there are about 15 thousand types of cryptocurrencies, with the bitcoin being the most famous.

“The guarantee of existence is authentication, validation, by blockchain technology, an inviolable data network that records in a decentralized way all transactions made in crypto around the world”, he says.

Data show that, today, about 5% of Brazilians invest in cryptocurrencies, compared to 11% in Russia and 13% in Ukraine, the highest proportion of investors in the world.

Before the war started, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky it even sanctioned a regulation for the sector, but Travassos believes that the proportion of investors “still does not solve the problem of the majority of the population, which has lost access to their savings”.

“In this context, cryptocurrencies have become a new escape route, a tool for wealth protection, asset liquidation and even value donation,” he says, citing a Ukrainian cryptocurrency fund that has already raised $60 million for the military. from the country.

There are still cases of selling NFTs to raise money for humanitarian aid, and from hackers who created a fund to raise bitcoins to bribe members of the Russian army out of the war.

On the Russian side, the expert comments that some citizens are liquidating money in countries like the United Arab Emirates as a way to escape the devaluation of the country’s currencyO ruble.

“These crises are capable of catalyzing innovations, proving new concepts, alternatives that could take years to become popular. In situations like this, they gain international recognition and gain new fans,” he says.

Source: CNN Brasil

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