When the Reserve Bank of India tacitly acknowledge the existence of dogecoin, a digital currency that was initially started as a joke, the central bank couldn’t have imagined that the dogecoin community would put together a fund-raising effort aimed at helping Indian athletes reach the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Dogecoin Foundation, a non-profit organisation started by dogecoin creators Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, has just done that, however. According to several media reports, Indian athletes Himanshu Thakur and Nadeem Iqbal require funding to defray the costs of competing at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The dogecoin community took to the challenge, and raised the roughly $6,000 required to help the athletes.

“The Indian Olympic Fund is finished! We have reached our donation goal of 4 million doge, all donations beyond this point will be diverted to the general fund,’’ the foundation said on its website.

Virtual currencies such as bitcoin and dogecoin have received little clarity with regards to regulation from the Government and the RBI.

The I-T department and Enforcement Directorate have conducted raids against several bitcoin operators despite the current lack of regulation.