‘Even meme can support our army and save lives’ Ukrainian PM says after enabling donations in DOGE ‘Even meme can support our army and save lives’ Ukrainian PM says after enabling donations in DOGE
Ukraine is facing a full scale invasion from Russia and has turned to cryptocurrencies to help support its army.
2 min read
Updated: Mar. 3, 2022 at 11:18 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykhail Fedorov tweeted March 2nd that the country will now accept donations in the popular meme cryptocurrency DOGE coin, which is now more valuable than the Russian rouble.
“Now even meme can support our army and save lives from Russian invaders.”
Fedorov said in the tweet that shared the official public key for Ukraine’s wallet. He also called on Elon Musk and DOGE founder Shibetoshi Nakamoto to lend their aid.
@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
Crypto donations to Ukraine surpass $30 million
People have donated well over $35 million to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion over the last week. After the initial wave of donations, the country began to accept crypto with open arms.
Stand with the people of Ukraine
Now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Ethereum. Bitcoin and Tether (USDTtrc20)BTC — 357a3So9CbsNfBBgFYACGvxxS6tMaDoa1P
ETH — 0x165CD37b4C644C2921454429E7F9358d18A45e14
USDT (trc20) — TEFccmfQ38cZS1DTZVhsxKVDckA8Y6VfCy
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022
The country is now planning an airdrop to reward donors with the cut off being March 3rd. It has also jumped on board various other crypto projects, including Polkadot after CEO Gavin Wood said he would personally donate $5 million to the country if it created a DOT address.
Meanwhile, someone has also donated a CryptoPunk NFT to the cause, although there is no telling if the NFT will reach its intended destination as it was sent from a custodial wallet connected to a central exchange.
Crypto has become a safe haven amid war
Crypto is quickly solidifying itself as a safe haven amid the war.
With the financial system falling apart in both Russia and Ukraine, record numbers of people are turning to crypto to save their wealth and escape with it.
Crypto market cap surpassed $2 trillion on March 2nd and is largely considered to be on the back of adoption in the war-stricken areas.
Russians are reportedly paying a $20,000 premium on the price of Bitcoin, which is currently trading at $43,806.70. The country’s financial system has been excluded from the SWIFT banking system, while Visa and Mastercard have suspended services to the country.
Tech giants like Meta and Apple are also making moves to suspend services to the country to oppose the invasion.
Posted In: Memecoins
Author 
Assad Jafri
AJ, a passionate journalist since Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring, has honed his skills worldwide for over a decade. Specializing in financial journalism, he now focuses on crypto reporting.
In this article
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in December 2013 as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
