After accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and USDT TRC-20, the Ukrainian government has just announced that it can now receive donations made through Polkadot (DOT). According to the announcement, Ukraine should be able to accept donations made with more cryptocurrencies in the near future.
Ukraine accepts donations in DOT
The milestone of $30 million in cryptocurrency donations has been reached with the NGO “Come Back Alive”, various organisations and the Ukrainian government. Indeed, since February 24, donations have been pouring in to help Ukraine in the face of the conflict between it and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Donations made via non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have also been noticed, notably with the “I Pray For Ukraine” collection visible on the OpenSea platform.
Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, said on Saturday via his Twitter account that his government was now accepting donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and USDT TRC-20.
But today, the official Ukrainian account said that an address had been set up to receive donations in DOT, Polkadot’s token:
The people of Ukraine are grateful for the support and donations from the global crypto community as we protect our freedom. We are now accepting Polkadot donations too: $DOT: 1x8aa2N2Ar9SQweJv9vsuZn3WYDHu7gMQu1RePjZuBe33Hv.
More cryptocurrencies to be accepted soon.– Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) March 1, 2022
The Ukrainian people are grateful for the support and donations from the crypto community around the world as we protect our freedom. We are now accepting donations with Polkadot. Other cryptocurrencies will be accepted soon. “
A strategic choice
The choice of Polkadot is not trivial, however. Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum and creator of Polkadot had tweeted that he would donate up to $5 million if Ukraine decided to accept donations in DOT. Note that he kept his word as he even donated $5.6 million (current DOT price) after the announcement, before making the transaction public.
The people of Ukraine fighting for our freedom are forever grateful to Gavin Wood @gavofyork for the generous donation of $5M of @Polkadot $DOT as promised publicly. Thank you from all of us here in Ukraine working for a peaceful future
– Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) March 1, 2022
He did, however, face some criticism from internet users for not simply donating with the means that were offered rather than preaching to the choir.
As stated in the announcement tweet, more cryptocurrencies should soon be accepted by the Ukrainian government. A move that will no doubt be welcome, given the recent fall in the price of the hryvnia, Ukraine’s monetary currency, following the events we are experiencing.
