Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has announced that Ukraine will have NFTs to support the Ukrainian armed forces instead of a crypto airdrop. According to reports, the airdrop was set to start today at 6:00 p.m. Kyiv time. The announcement comes as the Ukrainian government and NGO providing support to its military raises $50.9 million through crypto-asset donations since the start of Russia's Ukraine invasion, according to data released by blockchain analytics platform Elliptic.
"After careful consideration, we decided to cancel airdrop. Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine to fight back the agression. Instead, we will announce NFTs to support Ukrainian Armed Forces soon," Fedorov wrote on Twitter. He also mentioned that Ukraine doesn't have plans to issue any fungible tokens.
On February 26, 2022, the Ukrainian government's official Twitter account announced the country was accepting cryptocurrency as donations, after which the push for Ukraine's crypto crowdfunding started. The government also shared a Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallet address for donors interested in supporting the armed forces.
Reports suggest that those two provided wallet addresses now have $10 million and $16 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits, respectively, as per blockchain records.
Apart from these cryptocurrencies, the government was also accepting Polkadot donations. The government has even thanked Polkadot founder Gavin Wood for the "generous donation of $5 million as promised publicly."
On March 2, Fedorov also announced that the government was also accepting Elon Musk-backed Dogecoin (DOGE) in donations. "Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders," he tweeted from his official twitter handle.
Responding to Fedorov's tweet, Dogecoin founder Shibetoshi Nakamoto, said, "Dogecoin folks aren't usually rich and dogecoin itself is generally used for small transactions, but we are a caring and passionate bunch. Those who want to help will offer what they can ~ i hope the country can heal and rebuild stronger after all of this."
Come Back Alive, an suspended NGO "funding military activity" has raised "several million dollars in crypto donations," according to Elliptic which also revealed that UkraineDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization set up to help war-torn Ukraine, has auctioned off a Ukrainian flag NFT for $6.5 million worth of Ethereum (ETH). Elliptic said the fund will be donated to the NGO.
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