How Ukraine Is Leveraging Crypto in Its Fight Against Russia - Ep.326
Unchained
Intro
This chapter explores how digital currencies are influencing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with insights from a speaker experienced in government and blockchain technology. It highlights the potential of blockchain solutions to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Tomicah Tillemann, the global chief policy officer of Katie Haun's new firm, analyzes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and explains how crypto is being used in an unprecedented manner to render aid to civilians, move money across the world, and potentially document war crimes. Show highlights:
- Tomicah’s background, which includes stints working for the State Department and a16z
- recap of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- what Tomicah thinks of the decision to boot certain Russian banks from SWIFT
- why Tomicah believes that it would be very difficult for Russia to use crypto at a large scale to evade sanctions
- why ruble/BTC volume is spiking
- how Ukraine’s usage of web3 tools could change humanitarian aid forever
- what lessons to take away from Ukraine’s almost-airdrop
- the four real-world crypto use cases governments should take notice of
Upcoming Book Events
For folks in the Bay Area: On Tuesday March 8, I’ll be doing a reading and signing at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, moderated by The Information’s Kate Clark. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. , the program begins at 6 p.m., and the book signing is at 7 p.m. https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2022-03-08/laura-shin-inside-first-cryptocurrency-craze
For people in Seattle: I’ll be doing a reading and signing as part of town Hall Seattle on Wednesday March 9, at 7:30pm at The Forum, moderated by Steve Scher, of Town Hall Seattle. https://townhallseattle.org/event/laura-shin/
And, I may also be at SXSW on March 12 — details still TBD, and I may also be in Boston at Harvard the weekend of March 26. No promises on either score, but I guess if you feel strongly about either one, you can tweet at me, as that might tip the scales. On April 5th, I’ll be in Miami doing a reading, and on April 9th, I’ll be in Annapolis at the Annapolis Book Festival. Finally, on March 23rd, I’ll be doing a virtual reading with Powell’s bookstore at 8pm Eastern Time/5pm Pacific Time, and Jeff Roberts, executive editor of Decrypt and author of Kings of Crypto will be moderating.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021
Brave: http://brave.com/Unchained
Coinchange: https://coinchange.io
Episode Links
Tomicah Tilllemann
Topics Covered
- Ukraine accepting crypto: https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1497594592438497282
- Cutting Russia out of SWIFT: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_22_1423
- UkraineDAO: https://twitter.com/Ukraine_DAO
- Ukraine asking for a blanket ban on Russians from crypto exchanges: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/02/26/ukraine-mounts-effort-to-surveil-russian-politicians-crypto-wallets/
- Why crypto won’t help Russia avoid sanctions:
- Ruble/BTC trading: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/135888/ruble-trading-pair-volumes-surge-on-binance-after-russias-invasion-of-ukraine
- Ukraine Airdrop:
- Arweave x Ukraine
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