Ukraine backtracks on airdrop and looks to issue NFTs to support military

Ukraine has canceled plans to conduct an airdrop that was due on March 3rd.

The country’s Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted that the country had backtracked on the plan after “careful consideration” and is now looking to issue NFTs to support its military.

After careful consideration we decided to cancel airdrop. Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine to fight back the agression. Instead, we will announce NFTs to support Ukrainian Armed Forces soon. We DO NOT HAVE any plans to issue any fungible tokens

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 3, 2022

Airdrops typically give users free crypto to help push adoption. However, it was unclear what Ukraine intended to airdrop and whether it would be a new cryptocurrency issued by the state.

Similarly, Fedorov has not divulged details about the announced NFT project and it is unclear what form it will take.

Microdonation spike following Airdrop announcement

The airdrop announcements made on Fedorov and Ukraine’s official Twitter caused a surge in micro donations to the country ranging from 0.01 ETH to 0.001 ETH, according to data from Dune Analytics.

Every single Ethereum block now has tx that is donating to the @Ukraine, 95% are either 0.001 eth or 0.01 eth trying to capture the max value of the airdrop. So far 25k addresses have been donated. This is gonna be so controversial either way how it will end up pic.twitter.com/dY3YTmMKTx

— 9x9x9? (@9x9x9eth) March 2, 2022

Social media users began pointing out that the new donations were being made by people trying to become eligible for the airdrop, with some labeling the new donations as people who only care about money.

the state of crypto pic.twitter.com/MhTjnhINvs

— NateAlex ლ⚈෴⚈ლ (@NateAlexNFT) March 2, 2022

Meanwhile, some rumors say the microdonation surge is a “Sybil attack” to game the airdrop and maximize their airdrop rewards. Sybil attacks are when a single user makes multiple donations from different addresses to try and game the system.

Some people on various social media expressed dissatisfaction after the airdrop was canceled, however, most people do not care that they will not be rewarded for their donations.

More than $50 million donated in a week

Ukraine has raised more than $50 million in crypto donations since the invasion began last week. Fedorov has been at the forefront of the country’s campaign to raise support through cryptocurrencies and now NFTs.

While most of the donations are being made in crypto, someone donated a CryptoPunk NFT to the cause. Additionally, an Ethereum-based group Ukraine DAO auctioned off an NFT of the country’s flag on March 2nd for $6.75 million — making it one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold.

?? 2250 ETH / $6.75M USD CONTRIBUTED TO THE UKRAINIAN FLAG NFT ??

Thank you to all who supported our project ?

Next steps: POAP for all those who donated to partybid, work with Come Back Alive on safely transferring funds

You may still donate ETH directly to ukrainedao.eth pic.twitter.com/GsQBLzHIVK

— UkraineDAO (@Ukraine_DAO) March 2, 2022

It is unclear how the proceeds are being spent due to the national secrecy involved. Ukraine has said that its Defense Ministry is in charge of disbursing funds and is mainly using it to buy equipment for the military.

The country added that blockchain’s transparent nature makes it so anyone can see how the funds are being spent.