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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In 2022, the cryptocurrency industry became one of the tools for urgent fundraising to help Ukraine. One of the most notable projects was Aid For Ukraine, which involved the Ministry of Digital Transformation and representatives of the crypto industry — notably Everstake, KUNA, and FTX. After a few years, part of the crypto donations movement is already being examined within a criminal proceeding.
The greatest attention in the released materials currently falls on the Ukrainian crypto exchange KUNA and its founder Mykhailo Chobanian.
According to information published by Femida with reference to data from the pre-trial investigation, at the start of the full-scale invasion the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s website posted addresses of cryptocurrency wallets to raise aid for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These wallets, it is claimed, were opened by KUNA. Later, the collection received a separate resource Aid For Ukraine.
In the materials of the criminal case, there is also described an episode of procuring strike drones from the American company NEANY Inc.
According to the investigation, Mykhailo Chobanian transferred to the supplier 150 Bitcoin and 2500 ETH, which at that time were valued at approximately $12,2 million. Meanwhile, the contract between the Ministry of Defense and the American company, as noted in the materials, had not been finally concluded due to the lack of the necessary signature from the Ukrainian side.
Part of the crypto assets was later recovered, but, according to the disclosed information, more than 53 BTC and 2048 ETH remained unrecovered. Law enforcement agencies are studying further movement of funds, including transactions through other cryptocurrency platforms.
These circumstances are being investigated in proceedings No. 12025000000000407 under part 5 Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the same time, no one has been formally accused in this proceeding yet, so the disclosed data should be considered solely as the investigation’s version.
But the Aid For Ukraine story is not limited to KUNA.
Another prominent participant in the project was the blockchain company Everstake, one of whose co-founders is Yevhen Zaifert. It was Everstake together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation that actively promoted crypto donations and joined the creation of the high-profile advertising campaign Invest in Peace, Bro.
In the advertisement, an animated dove delivered a rap urging the crypto community to continue donating, and in the video appeared Mykhailo Fedorov. The campaign was created by Bickerstaff.734 In public descriptions of the Everstake project, the company was presented not merely as an external donor, but as one of the firms supporting the Aid For Ukraine infrastructure.
Separately, Everstake and its co-founders reported significant personal donations to Ukraine. The total declared amount was $10 million, of which, according to contemporary publications, $9 million was personally provided by Yevhen Zaifert.
Thus, Zaifert and Chobanian found themselves in one story for different reasons. Zaifert — as a co-founder of Everstake, which was one of the public partners and promoters of Aid For Ukraine. Chobanian — as the founder of KUNA, through the infrastructure of which, according to the investigation materials, part of the cryptocurrency operations passed.
At the same time, there are currently no grounds to equate participation in the project with proven involvement in a crime. The criminal proceeding is in pre-trial investigation, and only a court can provide the final assessment of the circumstances.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Від крипторепу до кримінального провадження: чому знову згадують KUNA Чобаняна та Everstake Зайферта". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
