Meduza Russia, an independent news organization, has received more than $250,000 in cryptocurrency donations from supporters. They will use funds to continue operations in the face of sanctions imposed on the country.
Since announcing its donation appeal, the news organization received about $250,000 in crypto donations from 146,000 individual transactions. Around 93% of the total donation amount came in 3.75 BTC ($116,954) and 49.9 ETH ($117,767).
Meduza Russia earns public support
Meduza has been soliciting donations in USD, euros, and cryptocurrency since March. It is a Latvian-based Russian-language news site that claims to cover “the real Russia, today.”
The news organization’s financial difficulties began in April 2021, when it and several other independent media sites were designated as “foreign agents” by Russia’s Justice Ministry.
The government mandated that the company include a large font warning in each Russian-language article. It reminded readers of its status as a “foreign agent.”
The same warning must appear in all ads, resulting in the loss of practically all of its advertisers.
Impact of sanctions
Both Russian government censorship and the impact of Western sanctions pinned the company down in March. Russian authorities disabled its website for “disseminating information in violation of the law.”
The SWIFT network ban for Russian banks also restricted its only means of receiving donations from Russian supporters.
The group designated as foreign agents did not stop Russian readers from donating to it. The company quickly built up a way for supporters to donate to the regulators through their banks, using Stripe as the payment processor.
Since Feb 25, the news organization and its journalists have been publishing daily updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine, sharing images and stories about Ukrainian civilians affected by the conflict. It also covered other major events not yet made public under local Russian media.
According to Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief of Meduza Russia, the donations will benefit the 25 journalists who have fled the country to resettle in Riga, Latvia – the company’s headquarters.