Indie Russian news firm raises $250K in crypto after sanctions paralyze finances
< img src ="https://images.cointelegraph.com/images/1200_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjItMDUvMDdiYjM1MGQtZDE4Mi00NjZkLTlmMDgtMzE3ZmI3YmY2YWUzLmpwZw==.jpg"class ="ff-og-image-inserted"> A Russian independent news company has raised more than US$ 250,000 in cryptocurrency contributions from supporters in order to continue reporting independent news under a barrage of Russian federal government propaganda and censorship.
Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian-language news site that claims to report on “the real Russia, today” has been requesting for contributions given that March in the type of USD, euros and cryptocurrency, consisting of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance (BNB), Tether (USDT), Monero (XMR) and zcash (ZEC).
Given that publishing their contributions plea, the news company has gotten around US$ 250,000 in crypto contributions through 146,000 individual transactions. Around 93% of the overall contribution quantity was available in the type of 3.75 BTC ($116,954) and 49.9 ETH ($117,767).
Folks, Meduza has actually upgraded its crowdfunding after being detached from our fans in Russia. We now rely on you– our international audience– to change those 30k donators. Assist us keep Russians & & the world informed about the monstrous war versus Ukraine. https://t.co/y83ieV9LuT!.?.!— Meduza in English(@meduza_en)March 14, 2022 Meduza’s cash troubles really started in April 2021, after it and several other independent media outlets got labelled by Russia’s Justice Ministry as”foreign agents, “needing the business to position a big font caution in each of its Russian-language articles notifying readers of its “foreign agent”status. The exact same warning also needs to appear in all ads, leading to a loss of nearly all its marketers. It composed on its contributions FAQ:”As you can picture, few companies will pay to promote their products below a warning that the content was “created by foreign representatives. “Being labelled as a foreign representative did not avoid readers in Russia from contributing to the organization nevertheless, as the company promptly set up an avenue for factors to provide regulator contributions through their banks using payment processor Stripe. However in March, Meduza discovered itself pincered by both Russian federal government censorship and the impact of Western sanctions. Its website was obstructed by Russian authorities for “sharing info in violation of the law,”and its only avenue of receiving donations from Russian advocates blocked by a ban on the SWIFT network for Russian banks on February 26. SWIFT is a worldwide monetary messaging network utilized by banks to carry out worldwide cash transfers. Meduza wrote on its contribution site that the financial constraints had actually
made it impossible for them to field donations from their supporters in Russia. Given that February 25, the wire service and its reporters have actually been releasing day-to-day updates on Russia’s war versus Ukraine, sharing images and stories about Ukrainian civilians impacted by the war and other significant events not reported by regional Russian media. “Countless people in Russia now rely on our reporting,”wrote Meduza, noting its journalists were required to leave the country.”Since the break out of this war, moving cash from Russia to Europe has actually been difficult. We lost 30,000 donators. At the moment, we get no
cash from Russia at all.”Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief of Meduza informed Bloomberg the donations will help their 25 journalists
, who have because left the nation to transplant in Riga, Latvia, where the business’s headquarters lies. Related: The Ukraine invasion shows why we need crypto policy Meduza and its reporters are
not the only unintended victims of the Russian sanctions. Media reports over the months have actually pointed to daily Russians, students studying abroad, worldwide students in Russia, and even entire countries’
civilian populations as having been seriously impacted by Russian-facing sanctions.Published at Wed
, 11 May 2022 05:00:12 +0000
