The Ukrainian government, which already accepts donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT, is now in addition to these cryptocurrencies. Polkadot (DOT) It also announced that it accepts donations.
As the war in Ukraine raged on, people and organizations around the world began looking for ways to donate to Ukraine’s resistance efforts and the military forces defending the country against Russia. Following many people’s desire to donate in cryptocurrency, the official Ukrainian Twitter account has announced on February 27 that donors will be able to send cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) published their addresses.
Following this, in response to Ukraine’s tweet, Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum and Polkadot, tweeted that if Ukraine issues a DOT address, it will send $5 million. Following that, the state’s official Twitter account made the following statement earlier today:
“The people of Ukraine are grateful for the support and donations from the global crypto community as we fight for our freedom. We now accept Polkadot donations as well.”
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
Gavin Wood donates $5.5 million after DOT address is published
Wood’s response to the tweet drew some criticism as it could be interpreted as Wood conditioned his donation and would not donate if he could not submit a DOT. However, some have also pointed out that Wood’s claim may be driven by tax concerns, as switching from DOT to ETH can be a taxable event.
In response, Wood shared the transaction showing that the Ukrainian government made a donation of 298,367 DOT to this address shared. This generous donation is worth $5.5 million at the current dollar/DOT rate. So far, a total of $6 million has been donated to the Polkadot address, including Wood’s transaction, and the amount continues to grow.
More than $37 million in crypto donations has reportedly been made to Ukrainian charities, the military, and government agencies. Wood’s donation alone accounts for more than 10 percent of all cryptocurrency donations.
Among the influential figures in the crypto community, Wood is not the only one helping Ukraine. Famous crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s platform, FTX, gave $25 to every Ukrainian on the exchange, while Chain.com CEO Deepak Thapliyal donated 100 Etherum (ETH), worth over $230,000.