Dogecoin community donates $53K to Ukraine as country hints at upcoming airdrop

“Dogecoin, itself, is generally used for small transactions, but we are a caring and passionate bunch,” said Billy Markus, who said he sent funds to Ukraine.

With the price of the meme-based token Dogecoin (DOGE) higher than that of the Russian ruble, Ukraine opened to DOGE donations for the first time. 

Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov announced on Wednesday that the token had “exceeded Russian ruble in value” — though the ruble has dropped significantly against the U.S. dollar in the wake of U.S. and EU sanctions, its price has been lower than DOGE’s since January 2021. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Dogecoin is roughly $0.13 at the time of publication, having fallen by less than 1% over the last 24 hours.

However, Fedorov’s message on Twitter also called for DOGE proponents including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Dogecoin founder Billy Markus to donate to Ukraine’s military and “save lives from Russian invaders.” According to blockchain records, the provided wallet address has received more than 397,848 DOGE from 607 transactions — roughly $53,000 at the time of publication.

“Dogecoin folks aren’t usually rich and Dogecoin, itself, is generally used for small transactions, but we are a caring and passionate bunch,” said Markus, who said he sent funds to Ukraine. “Those who want to help will offer what they can.”

@dogecoin exceeded Russian ruble in value. We start to accept donations in meme coin. Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders. $DOGE owners of the world, @elonmusk, @BillyM2k, let’s do it. Official $DOGE wallet: DS76K9uJJzQjCFvAbpPGtFerp1qkJoeLwL

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 2, 2022

Ukraine’s official Twitter account also said it will be conducting an airdrop on Thursday for users who made crypto donations to the country. It’s unclear what officials intend to distribute to crypto users, but the message hinted at a “reward”:

Airdrop confirmed. Snapshot will be taken tomorrow, on March 3rd, at 6pm Kyiv time (UTC/GMT +2 hours).
Reward to follow!
Follow subsequent news re Ukraine’s crypto donation campaign at @FedorovMykhailo

— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) March 2, 2022

Related: Crypto community reacts to Russia’s war in Ukraine

Fedorov and Ukraine’s Twitter account have solicited other crypto donations following Russia’s military action in the country on Feb. 24, accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polkadot (DOT) and Tether (USDT). However, there are other organizations calling for crypto funds to support Ukraine, including the non-government organization Come Back Alive, UkraineDAO led by Russian music group Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova and activist-led Unchain Fund. At the time of publication, blockchain records show nine tracked funds have raised roughly $79.5 million in crypto donations for Ukraine.