Ukraine Accepts Donations in DOGE as Ruble Sinks Below $0.01

The escalation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine is about to enter its second week despite sanctions meted out against the Kremlin. Moscow’s invasion continues to draw the international community’s ire, who have come to Ukraine’s aid with donations to fund its defense effort.

Yesterday, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced via Twitter that his country now accepts donations in Dogecoin. This statement adds a new use case to the meme coin, which Tesla now accepts as payment for specific items. Fedorov posted the country’s official DOGE wallet address alongside a dig against the Russian Ruble, whose value has plummeted since conflict commenced.

In response to being tagged in the tweet, Billy Markus, Dogecoin’s founder, announced that he had donated some Doge. He highlighted that the meme coin is used for small transactions and is held by those who aren’t rich but are caring and passionate.  

So far, Ukraine’s official DOGE wallet has received over 900 donations totaling about 601,494 DOGE, approximately $78,000 at the time of publishing.

Crypto and NFTs Powerful Tools in Ukraine and Russia

An interesting aspect of the ongoing conflict is the involvement of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Both Russia and Ukraine have turned to these digital assets offering appealing advantages to each country.

In the face of Moscow’s invasion, Ukraine announced that it had set up crypto wallets to accept donations from its sympathizers. It initially released two wallet addresses to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. However, the country expanded its crypto donation options over time. 

Alongside BTC, Ether, Tether, and the recently announced Doge, Ukraine has also received donations in Sol (Solana) and Dot (Polkadot). On Tuesday, Fedorov mentioned the Aid For Ukraine’s initiative. It is a partnership between the Ukrainian government, Everstake, and the Solana blockchain platform to raise funds for Ukraine. People can now donate Sol and any other Solana-based digital tokens.

Non-fungible tokens have also been used as donations for Ukraine. Several artists have launched NFT auctions with a percentage of proceeds given to Ukrainian artists. Also, local Ukrainian NFT artists have reported the complete sell-out of their NFTs drops as community support soars.

As the world watches on, meme coins, NFTs, and other digital assets continue to make a difference in the crisis. According to Elliptic, the Ukrainian government has received more than $46 million in crypto donations since hostilities started. The increase in Ukraine’s crypto donation effort comes after reports suggest a more ferocious Russian attack in the coming days.

Despite the large sum of money donated to Ukraine via cryptocurrency, its primary funding source has been war bonds. So far, it has raised about 8.14 billion Ukrainian Hryvnia ($270 million), nearly seven times the amount raised from crypto.

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Over $45 Million Raised So Far

So far, crypto donations have surpassed the $45 million mark since the Ukrainian government started soliciting support from the global community. According to Elliptic, these funds have been raised through over 72,000 crypto asset donations. This includes Gavin Wood’s $5.8 million Dot donation and the $200,000 Cryptopunk sent to the Ukrainian Ethereum address.

Data from Dune Analytics reveals that donations made through the Ethereum Blockchain are worth approximately $40 million. The sources of this money include government bids, DAOs, and private donations. A total of over ~73,000 donors have made contributions across more than ~91,000 transactions. 

As seen above, the bulk of the donations has been in Bitcoin and Ether. Stablecoins have also been used significantly. However, scammers appear to be using the current situation to dupe naive individuals who want to give to Ukrainian charities. Several bogus crypto fundraising schemes have been identified, and prospective donors need to be careful.

The reports of Russians also turning to cryptocurrency in the face of sanctions substantiates how prominent digital assets are in the ongoing conflict. The level of adoption, use and resilence it is showing may lead to more governments worldwide making regulations in its favor. While that is still a long way to come, it is definitely proving its worth to Ukrainians and Russians alike.

Do you think the use of crypto in the ongoing conflict will cause increased adoption of digital assets globally? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below