Ukraine cancels crypto airdrop, promises NFTs

Vice Minister Mykhailo Federov said on Thursday that Ukraine would cancel a crypto airdrop created to reward its donors that had been announced just one day before.

Fast facts

• “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,” Federov wrote in a tweet Thursday.

• Details about the airdrop were scarce, but it had been announced on Ukraine’s official twitter handle Wednesday: “Airdrop confirmed. Snapshot will be taken tomorrow, on March 3rd, at 6pm Kyiv time (UTC/GMT +2 hours). Reward to follow!”

• Donations to Ukraine’s crypto wallets reached nearly US$40 million by Thursday.

• The Block reported that scammers appear to have used the airdrop announcement to draw funds through a fake crypto token called Peaceful World.

• The airdrop announcement nonetheless caused a spike in legitimate donations even as many criticized the move, saying donors should not be repaid and all efforts should be focused on Ukraine’s defense and civil efforts.