Having already raised millions of dollars in major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Ukraine is now receiving donations in polkadot as well. The country intends to expand the list of accepted coins as it increasingly relies on help from the crypto community to fund its defense against Russia.
Ukraine publishes DOT address and receives first Polkadot donations
In the face of the ongoing military onslaught by the Russian army, the Ukrainians offered crypto users around the world another option to support their cause. Early Tuesday, the Ukrainian Twitter account posted a DOT address along with a statement welcoming polka-dot donations.
The post expresses gratitude on behalf of the Ukrainian people for the funds donated by the global crypto community. It also reveals that support for more cryptocurrencies will be introduced in the near future.
The announcement comes after Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum and creator of Polkadot, tweeted on Sunday that if Ukraine provided a DOT address, he would send $5 million in the cryptocurrency.
On Tuesday, he tweeted a transaction showing the transfer of 298,367 DOT to the wallet, bringing the total deposited amount to over $5,8 million. Prior to his donation, the balance was a little over $200,000.
Ukraine previously collected around $40 million in major digital currencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and stablecoin tether (USDT). In addition to authorities in Kiev, non-governmental organizations supporting the Ukrainian military, such as “Come Back Alive”, are also among the recipients of crypto aid.
There have been calls for Ukraine to start accepting other cryptocurrencies, including the privacy-oriented monero (XMR), the crypto news outlet Forklog noted in a report. In a tweet following the polkadot announcement, the founder of Tron, Justin Sun, also pledged to contribute $1 million, if the Ukrainians post a TRX address.
While actively seeking to fund its defense and humanitarian efforts through cryptocurrency, the Kyiv government has urged the crypto industry to cut off Russia’s access to space. On Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked all major crypto exchanges to block Russian user addresses. However, major trading platforms like Binance and Kraken have so far refused.
A day earlier, Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, tweeted that the local crypto community is willing to reward those who reach out with information about crypto wallets used by Russian and Belarusian politicians.
As Russia is isolated from the global financial system by waves of Western sanctions, including the expulsion of some Russian banks from SWIFT, concerns have grown that Moscow may turn to cryptocurrency as an instrument to circumvent restrictions imposed.
