Bitcoin donations are pouring into Ukraine. 3 experts broke down the effectiveness of crypto during humanitarian crises.

• Ukrainian NGOs and humanitarian groups have received a flood of crypto donations since Russia invaded.
• One donor alone sent $3 million worth of bitcoin.

Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine early Thursday morning, bitcoin donations for both Ukrainian defenders and aid groups have poured in.

One Ukrainian NGO, Come Back Alive, took in nearly $700,000 on Thursday. By Friday morning it had received another $3.4 million in bitcoin, with $3 million coming from a single donor, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

"This is potentially a new factor in complex situations — the idea of fundraising and crowdfunding for defense efforts," Jess Symington, research lead at Elliptic, told Insider last week.

Two factors, experts said, make cryptocurrencies attractive as a form of donation in times of conflict.

First, they are decentralized, which means they can be accessed even when banks are in turmoil and traditional currency is fluctuating in value.

Since the conflict began, citizens in Ukraine have had limited access to currencies and cash withdrawals, making crypto an attractive option due to their decentralized nature.

"Cryptocurrency is designed to be borderless, decentralized money, so it's certainly finding another moment of high utility amid the crisis in Ukraine," Andrew Durgee, Head of Republic Crypto, told Insider.

Durgee compared the current wave of donations to 2017, when the United Nations distributed crypto-based vouchers to thousands of Syrian refugees, and he expects to see more "cross-border value transfers."

"It's an incredibly powerful technology amidst geopolitical uncertainty, especially when banking systems are under extreme duress," Durgee said.

Junior Theomou, founder and CEO of MinersDeFi, echoed Durgee's sentiment. To him, crypto is another tool that can provide financial support in a crisis.

"In a worst-case scenario, a bank can be taken over by the opposition, as in this case with the Russian military," Theomou wrote to Insider in an email. "[But] decentralized digital currency cannot be taken away."

The second factor that makes crypto a potentially valuable tool for sending aid is that it is, by design, difficult to hack.

Themou said that because crypto is stored and secured on the blockchain, these donations are safer than fiat money donations, which aren't as flexible and can be easily targeted by scammers.

Chris Kline, co-founder and COO of Bitcoin IRA, noted that crypto donations are nothing new. However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine will be a testing ground for efficacy of using crypto to funnel aid to defenders and aid groups.

"This is the first time crypto will be around for a geopolitical event of this magnitude," Kline said. "We're in uncharted territory…[but] when there's a concentrated group of people trying to help others monetarily, the most efficient way to do so is crypto."

Bitcoin, to Kline, should be the go-to option for donations, given that it's still the dominant cryptocurrency. Litecoin and cardano, however, could also be utilized.

Ethereum and solana, on the other hand, have a different utility and "don't seem to serve much of a purpose" for this particular event, Kline said.