Ukraine is accepting Dogecoin and Solana donations
Crypto assets have shown their immense utility over the last week, with $42 million raised so far for the Ukrainian government and people as the war continues.
Digital coin Solana (SOL) and meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE) have been added to the growing list of cryptocurrencies Ukraine is accepting for donations toward its military as Russia’s invasion intensifies.
While people can donate to Ukraine in many ways, cryptocurrency donations have emerged as an important alternative crowdfunding method. More than $42 million has been raised so far, according to the crypto financial compliance company Elliptic.
What cryptocurrencies is Ukraine accepting?
The Ukrainian government posted pleas on Twitter last week for cryptocurrency donations, specifically of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), to help the war effort against Russia.
Since then, Ukraine has expanded the number of cryptocurrencies it’s accepting for donations.
On Tuesday, the Ukraine government announced on Twitter that it had begun accepting Polkadot (DOT) donations. Polkadot founder Gavin Wood later in the day donated $5 million worth of Polkadot to Ukraine.
In a separate tweet, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov announced that people can now send Dogecoin as a donation to help fund Ukraine’s defense.
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in 2013 by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, more or less as a joke, as it’s named after the doge meme featuring a Shiba Inu. Tesla founder Elon Musk has been an outspoken proponent of the coin, and recently began allowing customers to use it to buy specific Tesla products.
Several crypto donation initiatives are up and running
Fedorov also tweeted on Tuesday that Solana and Everstake — a Ukraine-based crypto-staking service platform that lets crypto holders obtain rewards or earn interest — teamed up on a project to raise funds for Ukraine.
The initiative, Aid for Ukraine, is collecting crypto donations to help aid Ukrainians on the ground.
It currently accepts Solana tokens and any Solana Program Library (SPL) token, including wrapped versions of Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tether. The initiative is also accepting donations of non-fungible tokens (NFT), which will be sold and converted to the appropriate currency. Aid for Ukraine is working with crypto exchange FTX to convert donations into stablecoins or fiat currency when needed.
Separately, crypto exchange Uniswap (UNI) added a “Donate to Ukraine” feature on its platform that automatically exchanges any donated tokens to Ethereum before sending the assets to Ukraine.
According to blockchain analytics company Elliptic, the Ukrainian government has raised $42 million through more than 59,000 crypto donations since the start of the Russian invasion.
How can you help?
Crypto assets have shown their immense utility over the last week and they’ll likely remain an important resource for the Ukrainian government and people as the war continues.
For information on how you can support Ukraine and a list of vetted ways to give, visit our guide on how Americans can help Ukrainians. And learn how to give safely in this guide to avoiding scams.
At the time of publication, Matt Miczulski owned BTC and ETH.
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