Ukraine Cancels Crypto Airdrop, Faces Backlash From Community

The government of Ukraine has canceled its upcoming cryptocurrency airdrop in what is being described as the first rug-pull by a nation-state.

What Happened: In an announcement on Twitter Inc TWTR on Thursday, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said that “after careful consideration” Ukraine has decided to cancel the airdrop scheduled for today at 6 p.m. Kyiv time.

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

The country said it plans to announce non-fungible tokens to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces soon but currently has no plans to issue them.

Why It Matters: Following the announcement of an airdrop to crypto donors, blockchain data revealed a massive surge in Ethereum ETH/USD donations.

The country also received an influx of Dogecoin DOGE/USD donations over the last day after announcing support for receiving donations in the form of meme-based crypto. So far, Ukraine has reportedly received more than $52 million in donations through Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum, Dogecoin and Polkadot DOT/USD.

Those that donated cryptocurrency in anticipation of the airdrop were particularly shocked by Ukraine’s decision to revoke the airdrop entirely. The crypto community took to social media to share their disbelief, and amusement, at the entire scenario.

the first nation-state rugpull! https://t.co/cRwT0zuh5h

— your #1 source for absurdist true crime 🐍👑 🌷 (@davidgerard) March 3, 2022

Bro, this is the funniest shit I've seen in a while.

I just couldn't stop feeling like it was too good to be true. Why would anyone be running airdrops with war donations? https://t.co/LkkEeQwthE

— Battousai