Ukraine’s vice prime minister has requested dogecoin donations as part of fundraising efforts following Russia’s invasion of the eastern European country.
Mykhailo Fedorov, who also serves as Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, said the funds will “contribute to the Ukrainian victory as well as support civil people”.
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The country has already raised more than $33 million worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies since launching a fundraiser over the weekend.
“Dogecoin exceeded Russian ruble in value,” Mr Fedorov tweeted on Wednesday.
“We start to accept donations in meme coin. Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders.”
The politician also called on dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus and prominent advocate Elon Musk to donate to Ukraine’s official $DOGE wallet.
Mr Markus was among dozens of people to respond with confirmation that they had donated, with more than 300 donations recorded on dogecoin’s blockchain within hours of the request being made, totalling more than $35,000.
“Dogecoin folks aren’t usually rich and dogecoin itself is generally used for small transactions, but we are a caring and passionate bunch,” Mr Markus wrote.
“Those who want to help will offer what they can – I hope the country can heal and rebuild stronger after all this.”
Ukraine is also planning a cryptocurrency “airdrop” on Thursday as part of its fundraising efforts, which are typically used to send free tokens of digital currency to participants.
“Airdrop confirmed,” the country’s official Twitter account stated on Wednesday. “Snapshot will be taken tomorrow, on March 3rd, at 6pm Kyiv time (UTC/GMT +2 hours). Reward to follow!”
No further details were provided; The Independent has contacted Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation for more information.
