I have to start this by saying — the war currently being waged by the Russian military in the sovereign nation of Ukraine is appalling and condemnable. My heart goes out to all the innocent citizens whose lives have been lost or disrupted, all the families being torn apart and all those who, though not in immediate danger, are being affected in one way or another.
As with all tortuous times that we’ve gone through as humankind — as with the pandemic, the great recession, civil wars in Liberia and the United States, hurricanes, tsunamis and genocides — through the pain, the fear and the uncertainty, we have always come away with learning and new ideas that make us ever more resilient in the next step. With the understanding that this ongoing war is still very real, very wrong and very painful for Europe and the world, let’s start digging into the lessons we are already learning and the advancements it is forcing us to make quickly as we push forward.
Implications for Cryptocurrency Adoption
Long before the invasion was launched, Ukraine was well on its way to being a big player in the crypto industry. With a youth-led government and a tech-savvy population, the country was a fertile nesting ground for rapid development. In 2020, the Global Crypto Adoption Index reported by Chainalysis noted that Ukraine had the most active base of digital currency users, transferring up to $5million in crypto through small businesses each week.
