Stuck in Ukraine, Crypto Startup Mobilizes Aid in Fight for Survival

For weeks, friends and family warned Andriy Velykyy that he should leave Ukraine as tensions grew with Russia. But Velykyy delayed, wanting to stay in Kyiv, a tech hotspot where he could continue working closely with colleagues on his crypto startup, Allbridge.

“I didn’t believe the situation could get this bad,” he told Bloomberg over video chat. “I do regret that decision right now.” 

While other Ukrainian crypto founders have been able to coordinate relief efforts and relocate employees abroad, Velykyy hasn’t had that option. Even as more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine, Velykyy, 36, has been required to stay because of a new ban that prohibits men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country in case they’re needed to fight. He’s now juggling his growing crypto business, which is still operating in Ukraine, as well as his own humanitarian project. He’s also trying to keep his wife and one-year-old son safe. 

“My family, my wife and my child, they don’t want to leave the country without me,” he said. 

The crypto chief’s story is emblematic of the millions of Ukrainian citizens looking for refuge as well how members of the crypto community are mobilizing to support those in need. More than $63 million in crypto assets has been donated to the Ukrainian government and an NGO providing support to the military, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. Meanwhile, the U.S. government estimates at least 12 million are in need of humanitarian aid across Ukraine.

Born and raised in Kyiv, Velykyy fled the city on March 1 after a Russian air-strike struck a major TV tower in the heart of the capital. He and his family fled with a few belongings, before getting stuck in a remote area after running low on fuel. The local petrol station only had gas reserved for military operations, even as Velykyy offered to pay hundreds of dollars for it. 

“I have my child crying in the car,” he said. “I have my wife panicking and I’m running around this small village trying to find like five or 10 liters of fuel because I cannot even make it to the next city.” 

The family spent the night in a cramped room in a local factory, while Velykyy used the Telegram messaging app and Facebook to reach out to everyone he knew about getting fuel. He said he received more than 50 calls in the span of an hour as his contacts posted in other message groups on his behalf. He was eventually able to get approval from the mayor to secure enough fuel to get to the next city. 

Velykyy is now in a ski resort town surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the western part of Ukraine, an area that’s safer in comparison to major cities like Kyiv. The town usually has a population in the low tens of thousands, but has ballooned to more than 100,000 people as evacuees continue to arrive, according to Velykyy. He and his family are staying in a room in a hotel that’s been converted into a humanitarian camp, where some of his family’s friends are staying as well. Velykyy said he usually spends half the day working on Allbridge, of which he’s co-founder and CEO, and the other half on local relief efforts, leveraging connections in the crypto community.

Fourteen members of his team are still in Ukraine and scattered across the western part of the country, while the other three employees have made it safely abroad. His female chief product officer is in Portugal, another crypto hub, while his chief technology officer traveled to Budapest under an exemption that allows fathers with three or more children to leave the country. 

Velykyy said he hasn’t had to undergo military training yet because the army recognizes that he’s already helping the country. “If I work using my laptop, I would bring more help than if I fight somewhere around the city with my rifle,” he said. 

Crypto donation efforts have represented a strong grassroots effort amid a larger global relief effort. About $344 million has been donated from corporations, wealthy individuals and charity organizations, according to Candid, a donation data tracker. 

Velykyy helps manage Unchain, a crypto relief effort that has raised more than $3 million in donations, in addition to using funds given to him personally to purchase non-military supplies like medicine, food, water and stretchers. One of his biggest donations came from one of Allbridge’s investors. Chris McCann, a general partner at VC firm Race Capital, confirmed with Bloomberg that he donated $20,000 in the USDC cryptocurrency to Velykyy, who used the money to buy two buses to transport supplies. 

Read more: Crypto Savants Bred in Ukraine Build a Lifeline Back Home

After making the purchase, Velykyy tweeted a photo of one of the buses to show his relief efforts have been legitimate at a time when many crypto-related fundraisers have turn out to be scams. Crypto has always been rife with nefarious activity and scammers have used the outpouring of support for Ukraine to trick donors into sending money to fradulents schemes. The value of one scam cryptocurrency even reportedly reached $50 million.

If conditions of the war are able to improve, Velykk said he hopes his company, which was about to make an acquisition right before the invasion, is able to pick back up its momentum. Founded in 2020, Allbridge is building a platform that allows for digital assets to be exchanged between different blockchains.

“It is hard to plan for us right now,” he said. 

Still, the team is trying to find some sort of normalcy and continue business as best they can, thanks in part a $2 million investment round in January led by Race Capital. But for now the priority is survival, not just as a company but as individuals.

“We are working now, maybe not as efficient as we could have been, but we are not disappearing,” Velykk said.