Independent Russian News Site Meduza Raises Over $200,000 in Crypto

Pressure from the Kremlin and sanctions from the West have pressured Russian information outlet Meduza to more and more depend on cryptocurrency donations to fund its unbiased journalism. As the restrictions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have prevented its Russian readers from contributing in fiat forex, the Riga-based web site now accepts a number of digital cash.

Meduza Pulls Journalists out of Russia, Seeks Crypto Support

The battle in Ukraine has affected Russian-language information web site Meduza in multiple method, a report by Bloomberg reveals. Soon after the Kremlin launched its “particular navy operation,” President Vladimir Putin’s administration clamped down on unbiased reporting on the battle and the media outlet has sought assist to resettle its 25 journalists in Latvia.

The small Baltic nation of round 2 million, which has a big Russian talking minority, has change into a hub for exiled Russian media. Western sanctions, nonetheless, don’t permit Meduza’s 30,000 Russian readers who supported it earlier than the battle to ship funds by Stripe, after the fee processor suspended providers within the Russian Federation to adjust to the penalties.

The battle and the sanctions have pressured Meduza to show to its worldwide viewers and ask for monetary assist in U.S. {dollars}, euros, or cryptocurrency. It now accepts card funds, financial institution wires, Paypal transfers, and a number of cash together with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), the stablecoin tether (USDT), and the privacy-oriented monero (XMR). The report notes that the supplied BTC and ETH wallets have already gathered about $230,000 value of cryptocurrency.

Commenting on the state of affairs, the information portal’s editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov identified that Meduza is at present elevating solely round half of what it must develop. While declining to disclose the overall quantity of donations, he famous that the web site is soliciting crypto and relying completely on cash from foreigners for the primary time and said:

We couldn’t predict that the sanctions of Western governments will come first and destroy our crowdfunding.

Independent Russian media shops have confronted unprecedented stress from authorities in Moscow and because of this some have shut down, whereas others have been blocked by the Russian state. The Novaya Gazeta newspaper suspended publication in March after receiving warnings about its protection, and the Ekho Moskvy radio station had its FM frequency handed over to the state-run Sputnik.

Meduza, which was based within the Latvian capital after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, throughout one other media crackdown, was labeled final yr a “international agent” by the Russian authorities. The designation, which targets Russian media receiving funding from overseas, had already harm its promoting income earlier than the brand new sanctions successfully ended Russian donations.

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