• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • Generation Why: Produced in Partnership

    How crypto donations can support Russian journalists in exile

    The Kremlin’s crackdown on independent media and its blocking of Facebook and Instagram are key strategies for controlling the narrative around the war in Ukraine. However, crypto donations are creating new ways to support exiled journalists.

    By Natalie Donback // 30 November 2022
    A piece of bitcoin. Photo by: Aleksi Räisä on Unsplash

    Following its invasion of Ukraine in February, authorities in Russia have clamped down on independent media and tightened their grip on the internet in order to control the narrative about the war. At least 150 journalists have left Russia since the start of the conflict and the passing of a “fake news” law that all but outlawed independent journalism in the country.

    What’s happening in Russia and Ukraine right now “is directly related to the prosecution of independent media,” said Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov during a virtual keynote at the Trust Conference 2022, hosted by Thomson Reuters Foundation in London in October.

    The Kremlin is also blocking social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram from what it deems are “extremist” activities. Just last week, a Russian official was fired after asking President Vladimir Putin to end the ban.

    Officials trying to restrict information online are also often the same ones who are producing disinformation, explained Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion, following a panel on legal trends hampering media freedom.

    State-sponsored disinformation and propaganda during war is “far more harmful than any other source of disinformation because of the power of the state, its reach, the resources it has [at its] disposal, and its ability to shut off alternative narratives,” she told Devex on the sidelines of the Trust Conference.

    According to Khan, the best response to disinformation is a tried and tested strategy: independent media. “The other strategy is if the state itself provides trustworthy, verifiable basic information,” she said.

    With neither of those things currently happening in Russia, exiled journalists and independent media platforms are now trying to figure out how and where to relocate in order to continue reporting about their country and the war in Ukraine from abroad — and how to find new ways to fund their operations.

    Independent media turning to crypto donations

    Many have turned to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to enable the receipt of donations from international readers and organizations.

    “If I'm a journalist and I'm in a country where there's either a sketchy political or economic situation, I absolutely would want to know how to use Tether [a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar] and Bitcoin. There's no question. It would really meaningfully improve my freedom and my work,” said Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation said at the Trust Conference in October.

    Not long after, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy amid allegations of financial wrongdoing — a vivid illustration of the risks associated with cryptocurrencies. The implosion of FTX sent crypto markets into turmoil and the prices of the leading cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ether plummeting.

    In order to exchange Bitcoin into local currency, most people go through third parties such as a crypto exchange or a crypto broker — parties that could freeze their Bitcoins. “That’s the biggest risk, using an exchange or some sort of custodian,” Gladstein told Devex in London, adding in a more recent WhatsApp message that the FTX crash “underlines the importance of self-custodying Bitcoin…if you are using a bank or third party service you could lose all of your Bitcoin in an instant.”

    Stablecoins remain unaffected for now — although they also carry risk and could get caught up in the current collapse, he explained. “This episode in general is a dramatic reminder that learning how to use Bitcoin as a parallel system for dissidents and media is more important than ever,” he wrote.

    Another common risk is users not using cryptocurrencies properly, for example, by not storing their passwords correctly, he said. Users should also be aware that Bitcoin is volatile, but that stablecoins can play an important complementary role. The latest turmoil in the crypto markets might “push people away from random tokens and towards Bitcoin and stablecoins,” wrote Gladstein.

    Reporting the facts is a crime in Putin’s Russia.
    This doesn’t stop Meduza from doing its job: helping our millions of readers to maintain access to reliable information about Russia and its actions in this monstrous war. And we need your support.https://t.co/v9ZvkQ6dMo

    — Meduza in English (@meduza_en) August 16, 2022
    Via Twitter.

    Meduza, a popular independent Russian-language news site, started asking contributors to send donations in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether when it discovered it could no longer use the payment platform Stripe to charge for subscriptions after international sanctions were imposed.

    Earlier this year, the Human Rights Foundation donated $25,000 in Bitcoin to support the work of Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe led by Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov. “It's very difficult for [Novaya Gazeta] to accept bank wire money, because they're all just uprooted and they had to flee Russia,” Gladstein said.

    In July, Putin signed a bill into law prohibiting the use of digital assets such as cryptocurrency and NFTs to pay for goods and services. “Totalitarian regimes really don't like Bitcoin because it erodes their power and they're scared of it because they don't control it,” Gladstein said. “Which is another reason why human rights activists are pretty excited about it.”

    For the many Russian journalists and media outlets that have had to set up shop elsewhere — many have installed themselves in cities such as Riga, Tbilisi, or Istanbul — crypto donations allow them to continue reporting on the war and provide independent news to their readers.

    However, “we might be seeing fewer donations of tokens because their value is collapsing,” wrote Gladstein. Independent Russian media might now find it more difficult to secure funding, although outlets such as Meduza keep asking for donations in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Tether.  

    Update, Nov. 22, 2022: More information has been added throughout the article to illustrate the impact of the crypto exchange FTX filing for bankruptcy and sending crypto markets into turmoil. The headline was also updated to clarify that receiving donations in crypto might help Russian journalists in exile.

    Visit the Generation Why series for more coverage on how we can ensure the digital space advances the rights of all young people and leaves no one behind. You can join the conversation using the hashtags #DevexSeries on #DigitalRights.

    More reading:

    ► How Ukrainian civil society is documenting alleged Russian war crimes 

    ► Q&A: A beginner’s guide to cryptocurrency donations 

    ► Deep dive: The ripple effects of Ukraine’s fight for freedom

    • Banking & Finance
    • Democracy, Human Rights & Governance
    • Innovation & ICT
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Natalie Donback

      Natalie Donback

      Natalie Donback is a freelance journalist and editor based in Barcelona, where she covers climate change, global health, and the impact of technology on communities. Previously, she was an editor and reporter at Devex, covering aid and the humanitarian sector. She holds a bachelor’s degree in development studies from Lund University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Barcelona and Columbia Journalism School.

    Search for articles

    Most Read

    • 1
      Opinion: AI-powered technologies can transform access to health care
    • 2
      Exclusive: A first look at the Trump administration's UNGA priorities
    • 3
      WHO anticipates losing some 600 staff in Geneva
    • 4
      AIIB turns 10: Is there trouble ahead for the China-backed bank?
    • 5
      Opinion: Resilient Futures — a world where young people can thrive
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement