As Russia’s assault escalates, Ukraine has increased the number of cryptocurrencies it accepts for military donations. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, declared that Dogecoin can be sent as a donation.
Fedorov tweeted;
“Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders,”
Fedorov mentioned an initiative named Aid For Ukraine in a tweet on Tuesday. It’s a partnership between the Ukrainian government, Everstake, and the Solana cryptocurrency blockchain platform. People can now donate Solana and any other Solana-based digital tokens. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are also accepted as donations in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, crypto exchange Uniswap has developed a feature that allows users to convert any Ethereum-based digital money into ether and transfer it to the Ukrainian government. Ethereum is a blockchain platform on which developers can create apps.
Gavin Wood, the co-founder of the Polkadot blockchain network, allegedly moved $5 million worth of the DOT cryptocurrency to Ukraine, according to Fedorov.
According to Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, the Ukrainian government has raised $35 million from more than 35,000 crypto asset donations since the Russian invasion began.
Is crypto winning the war between Ukraine and Russia?
Ukraine began accepting cryptocurrencies for donations on February 26th, starting with bitcoin, ether, and tether, a stablecoin.
Ukraine is now increasing the number of cryptocurrencies it accepts for donations. It comes as military analysts predict that Russia’s attacks will become more ferocious and destructive.
While cryptocurrency donations are helping Ukraine’s resistance effort, the government has raised more money through war bonds, which have garnered approximately 8.14 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($270 million).
An official Ukraine government account tweeted on Wednesday that an “airdrop” has been confirmed for Thursday. An airdrop is when a person or a company gives away cryptocurrency for free. However, there were few details, and it’s unclear what type of digital currency would be given away or to whom.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has made cryptocurrencies a significant role. There has been talk that Russians could use cryptocurrency to move their money out of the country to avoid sanctions, but experts say this is unlikely.
Fedorov called on major bitcoin exchanges to block Russian users’ accounts last week. Binance, the world’s largest exchange, said it will block addresses of any sanctioned users, but not all Russian accounts.