Ukraine plans to distribute free airdrop tokens to people who recently donated crypto to the country.
Ukraine’s government announced Wednesday that it is planning to give free airdrops to people who recently donated cryptocurrencies to support the country’s ongoing war with Russia.
The announcement came shortly after Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s prime minister and minister for digital transformation, expressed appreciation to Uniswap for including the “donate to Ukraine feature” which spontaneously transforms any of their listed tokens into Ethereum.
Fedorov confirmed the airdrop in a tweet, stating that snapshots will be taken on Thursday, March 3 at 6pm Kyiv time. However, the minister did not provide further information on how the airdrop will be distributed. According to speculation, the airdrop could be for individuals who sent their donations through Ukraine’s Ethereum address.
Ukraine Receives Crypto Donations
The government of Ukraine has turned to cryptocurrency as a way to quickly raise funds without being restricted by financial institutions.
In the wake of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian officials solicited funds from people around the world to support their military. In its plea, the government provided crypto addresses for the donations.
According to data on crypto analytics firm Elliptic, the Ukrainian government and NGOs have received a massive $42 million in crypto.
Popular crypto proponents and executives also participated in the funding, including Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot, who donated $5.8 million worth of DOT and a CryptoPunk NFT worth over $200,000.
Fedorov also welcomed “massive support” from both Solana and Everstake. The two projects have collaborated to establish a joint initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Innovation dubbed Aid for Ukraine.
Binance and FTX are also not left out. Both crypto exchanges donated undisclosed sums to NGOs and volunteering groups in the country.
NGOs Adopt Crypto
Crypto assets have emerged as an important option for crowdfunding. They allow quick international donations and bypass financial institutions that might freeze payments to these voluntary groups and non-profits.
The number of NGOs and other groups that accept fundraising in crypto has been on the rise. In the past, these organizations preferred to raise funds in fiat, but seeing the decentralized nature of digital assets, they now accept donations via cryptocurrencies.
Recently, Susan G. Komen, a U.S. breast cancer organization, signed a partnership deal with The Giving Block to allow it to accept crypto donations. Similarly, the Human Rights Foundation announced in 2020 that it is now accepting bitcoin donations through BTCPayServer.
