About a month ago, Matt “Willy” Williams, a journalist with an incurable and inoperable brain tumor, flew to Ukraine to document the war there. In a video published on Monday (12), Willy says that he and the journalist Bryce Wilson needed to use Bitcoin to buy a car to flee Ukraine. The reason would be the advance of Russian troops and the unavailability of traditional banking services.
In addition, the duo reports that such services are also not available for other purposes, such as refueling the car. To make matters worse, ATMs are already out of money due to the demand for withdrawals.
After traveling more than 72 hours without sleep, the car was then donated to residents of the city of Lviv to be used for transporting people and medicines.
Buying a car with Bitcoin to flee Ukraine
Informed that Russia could bomb bridges to make it impossible for people to enter and leave Ukraine, journalists Matt “Willy” Williams and Bryce Wilson say they had to use Bitcoin to buy a car to get them out of this. get situation.
“It’s very difficult to get money at the moment, we found someone who wants to sell us a car for Bitcoin”
The car the duo bought was an Audi with 350,000 miles on it, the value was not disclosed, only that it was a “percent of Bitcoin”. After this, Wilson also reports that this was the fastest and safest way to get out of central Ukraine and westward.
“This is going to be a great story for the future, buying a car with Bitcoin when there is no money”
On the road with the car bought with Bitcoin, Willy notes that there are several signs along the way that say “Get ready. Don’t panic”. Show what the war climate is like in the country.
Shortly after, the couple find a gas station with a long line. According to Willy’s account, there are already several gas stations without petrol, in addition, traditional payment services such as credit cards do not work at several locations.
“Most of them no longer have access to use credit cards like Mastercard. We’re not sure why, but there’s no access and you can’t withdraw money because all the money is gone.”
Willy continues with the video, claiming they were considered spies suspects, which resulted in most of their videos being removed.
About 70 hours later, with no sleep and nearly 50 hours of driving, the journalist duo said they had escaped “at the right time”, believing that Russia will step up its attacks and focus on Ukraine’s infrastructure system.
“If the information is correct, we would have been caught by the Russians.”
Finally, after successfully escaping from central Ukraine, Willy claims that the car bought with Bitcoin was donated to people in the city of Lviv so that it can continue to be used for both people and other essential items at the moment, such as to transport medicines. The full video of this story is available below.
Source: Live Coins
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.