The Week in Fintech

My recap from the last week in fintech.

?Ukraine crypto donations pour in after Russian invasion

As crypto donations pour in to fund Ukraine’s military efforts, Ukraine’s officials are directly soliciting them. Ukraine’s official Twitter handle and the country’s Vice Prime Minister’s handle, both shared details of crypto wallets for donations. In less than 24 hours, the addresses publicised by these accounts received hundreds of donations totalling more than $3 million. The country is relying heavily on crowd-funding to defend against the Russian invasion. With traditional financial systems facing difficulties and delays, cryptocurrencies have come up as a useful alternative, ensuring speedy and unsanctioned supply of funds to Ukraine.

West to cut some Russian banks off from Swift

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU, the US, and their allies have decided to cut off Russian banks from SWIFT – the main international payment system. The assets of Russia's central bank will also be frozen, limiting Russia's ability to access its overseas reserves. The collective sanctions are the most severe ever imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. SWIFT is headquartered in Belgium and enables transactions between over 11,000 banks and financial organisations worldwide. Being cut off from this will be detrimental to any economy, particularly Russia which is heavily reliant on the system for its key oil and gas exports.

Gucci to purchase virtual land on Metaverse

Luxury fashion house Gucci announced it’s venturing into the metaverse on its Discord server. The brand has partnered with The Sandbox to purchase an undisclosed amount of virtual land. Spearheaded by Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, the project aims to create an interactive fashion experience based on the Gucci Vault, the brand’s umbrella term for its metaverse-related projects. Luxury brands are looking to be one of the early adopters of metaverse’s retail space with many of them already building a presence in the virtual world. ??