Russian-born Vitalik Buterin has quietly transferred Ethereum donations of around $5 million to the benefit of Ukraine.

Ukraine has been receiving a lot of support from the crypto world since the Russian invasion, including Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Zug-based Ethereum (ETH). 

The software pioneer transferred ETH donations worth some $5 million to Ukraine in early April, «Aid for Ukraine» said on its Twitter channel. The organization is a joint initiative of the Ukrainian government, crypto exchanges FTX, Everstake, and Kuna, which collect crypto donations for the country.

Buterin lived in Russia until he was six years old when his parents emigrated to Canada. According to the Ukrainian institution, he did not announce the transaction despite the large donation amount. It was linked to him through the Ethereum domain name «vitalik.eth,» which served as the origin of the transfer.

Half of the donation went directly to «Aid for Ukraine», and the other to the «Unchain Fund», a cryptocurrency charity initiative founded by activists from the blockchain community to provide humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.