The Ukraine government has announced an airdrop after millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies were sent to the country to help fund its war efforts following Russia’s invasion.
An airdrop basically entails project creators distributing crypto tokens for free to members of their community — usually early users — as a reward for supporting the project. They’re also an effective marketing tool for pulling in new users in a bid to bolster adoption.
The Ukrainian government’s official Twitter account announced Wednesday that an airdrop has been confirmed, adding that the snapshot is scheduled for tomorrow (March 3) at 6 pm Kyiv time.
The tweet also indicates that news about Ukraine’s crypto donation campaign will be shared by the country’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov instead of the government’s official account.
Last year, El Salvador airdropped $30 worth of bitcoin to the citizens who downloaded its Chivo wallet after the country adopted the benchmark cryptocurrency as its legal tender. However, the impending one in Ukraine will represent the first time in history that a country has airdropped donated crypto assets. It’s still unclear what exact assets the war-stricken nation will be distributing.
Crowdfunding A War
Since President Vladimir Putin ordered a Russian military strike on Ukraine on Feb. 24, the crypto community has rallied to support the Eastern European nation.
Data compiled by Slowmist shows that over $50 million has been sent to Ukraine’s official crypto addresses and NGOs supporting the defense of the country. Donations are accepted in various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Polkadot’s DOT coins, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Tether’s USDT.
Moreover, UkraineDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization was established last week to raise funds to support Ukrainians who are suffering through the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of the country’s flag.
As the armed conflict escalates in Russia and Ukraine, so has the interest in crypto. Russians are increasingly turning to bitcoin as the Ruble plummets. There has been speculation that Russia could use crypto to evade sanctions, although pundits maintain this will be extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, major cryptocurrency exchanges are also under pressure to block the accounts of “ordinary” Russian crypto users. Binance and Kraken have both refused to do so.
