Ukraine is using crypto-currency to finance its battle against Russia. But now, Ukraine will soon release non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to help financially support its military forces.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the upcoming NFTs. He also stated that the “airdrop,” which would reward donors by releasing crypto tokens directly to their wallets, was no longer up for donation. The free gift method is frequently useful as a marketing tool to get people to use a token or donate to a cause.
“Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine to fight back the aggression. Instead, we will announce NFTs to support Ukrainian Armed Forces soon,” Fedorov tweeted.
$46 million cryptocurrency donations
Ukraine’s armed forces and government have had to get creative to create a strong resistance to the Russian president. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine provided guns to everyone wanting to fight, including those who were in jail at the time.
According to Elliptic, a bitcoin analytics business, Ukraine has raised more than $46 million in cryptocurrency donations.
Some of the donations were motivated by the promise of an airdrop for everyone who pledged by Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The airdrop, however, was canceled just hours before the donation deadline. On February 26, only days after Putin pushed the Russian military into Ukraine, the Ukrainian government began a crowdsourcing campaign.
Elliptic said that the bulk of donations was in Bitcoin or Ether, although some people also gave NFTs. A CryptoFund NFT worth over $200,000 was contributed, and one NFT was valued at over $300. Gavin Wood, the founder of Polkadot, has also given $5.8 million.
“This will certainly contribute to the Ukrainian victory as well as support civil people. We will win — the best people with us,” Fedorov posted in a tweet thanking Wood.
Was the airdrop a “rug pull” ?
The airdrop’s details were scant, prompting some Twitter users to accuse it of being a “rug pull,” a euphemism for a crypto scheme in which developers depart a project and take the funds with them. Others, on the other hand, said they didn’t mind if it was just a rug pull because the funds were still going to help Ukraine battle Russia. Some others also mentioned that doing the airdrop with tokens and photographs of Ukraine’s beauty might assist increase donations.
Fedorov declared on Twitter on Wednesday that they will begin accepting meme coins, saying that “even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders”. People who trade Dogecoin, a meme coin, aren’t “usually rich” but a “caring and passionate bunch”, according to Dogecoin founder Billy Markus.
“Those who want to help will offer what they can,” Markus said. “I hope the country can heal and rebuild stronger after all of this.”
It’s unclear how Ukraine NFTs will look when they will release, or where people will be able to buy them. Donations of cryptocurrencies to Ukraine, on the other hand, continue to rise.