Cryptocurrencies

And do what with those ? move to El Salvador ?

According to news reports, crypto is being bought all over Ukraine right now.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/ukranian-bank-suspends-e-cas...

I guess this is another answer to "What is Bitcoin good for?" It's good when (quoting the article) your country's central bank suspends electronic cash transfers, suspends the foreign exchange market, limits cash withdrawals, and prohibits the issuance of foreign currency from retail bank accounts, because you're being invaded by Russia and your government has imposed martial law. Also apparently fighting-age Ukrainian men are prohibited from leaving Ukraine right now.

Also https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/25/4point1-million-in-cryptocur... says, "$4.1 million in cryptocurrency funneled to Ukrainian military since Russia invaded," by which it means "nongovernmental organizations and volunteer groups," aka militias or paramilitary troops, because the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense does not "use other payment systems ('Webmoney,' 'Bitcoin,' 'PayPal,' etc.)." (Though apparently some of the money is being used to buy materiel to give to the regular army.) So I guess Bitcoin is also good for sending funding to paramilitary militias in countries that are being invaded by much stronger armies.

Interestingly the article omits to mention that the most prominent volunteer groups like the Azov Battalion are neo-Nazis, even according to anti-Russian sources like https://crimethinc.com/2022/02/15/war-and-anarchists-anti-au....

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30447749 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30435383

Escape Ukraine and utilize the crypto when you get to Poland or similar. That's the only realistic option if Russia is pulling a full invasion / occupation.

Hopefully they will be accepted by other individuals, where credit cards are not working and the national currency is in freefall.

It looks like maybe the hryvnia has lost 5% of its value over the last year (and 12% over the last three months)? The bigger issue is that it's likely that Russia will overthrow its government before April (50% probability) and after that it's anybody's guess what the new regime will do with the hryvnia.

https://tradingeconomics.com/ukraine/currency says 29.7 hryvnia to the dollar at the moment.

I mean, I'm not saying cryptocurrency is a bad idea, but the hryvnia doesn't seem as totally pointless as you suggest.

According to https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/ukranian-bank-suspends-e-cas... foreign exchange in Ukraine is mostly suspended though, and already was when I made my comment above, so the price in markets that are still open won't reflect what you see on the ground in Ukraine; the Tether price cited (32 hryvnia) suggests an additional 9% loss since yesterday, which does qualify as "free fall" if it continues.