Amid Conflict, NFT Projects Already Seek to Rebuild Ukraine

• Anupam Varshney
• 21 Mar, 2022

Ukraine is raising funds using NFTs, showcasing the decentralized, trustless nature of blockchain technology at its best.

The recent invasion of Ukraine has put the world in a state of uncertainty, turmoil, and geopolitical risk. Volatility in the global financial markets has caused immense losses to millions of investors. 

With rising global inflation, fear of tapering liquidity, and increasing interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve, havoc is spreading across the global economy.

Additionally, the delinking of SWIFT messaging services for leading Russian banks is causing concern among entrepreneurs in the nation while also impacting other economies with strong Russian trade ties.
 

With Visa and Mastercard halting their Russian operations, there will be further untold consequences for the interoperability of their payment systems and the every-day citizens who rely on them. 

Amid all these uncertainties, cryptocurrencies and other assets such as nonfungible tokens (NFT) are playing a pivotal role in trying to mitigate the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukraine DAO

A collaboration among Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, digital artist Trippy Labs, and artist collective PleasrDAO, Ukraine DAO has sold 10,000 NFTs of the Ukrainian flag on the Ethereum network, alongside a unique NFT of the flag. So far, it has raised over $6.7 million to support Ukraine’s military. 

An NFT of the Ukrainian flag sold for 2,258 Ether (ETH) ($6.5 million at press time) through a service called Party Bid. All proceeds from the NFT sale went to the Come Back Alive organization that aids the Ukrainian military, volunteers, and their families.

Save the Children

7.5 million children in Ukraine are caught in the middle of this conflict, risking displacement, trauma, prolonged interruption of education, and loss of family income. Save the Children has raised funds to help the families worst impacted by Ukraine’s crisis. 

The initial $19 million worth of appeals on its donation page includes crypto contributions. The organization accepts more than 60 types of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), ETH, USD Coin (USDC), Cardano (ADA), and Dogecoin (DOGE).

Holy Water

Over 500 Ukrainian artists gathered to submit art to a new NFT collection sold via Holy Water to raise money for the people of Ukraine. 

The artists represent some of the most prominent galleries in the country, including Port Agency, Izolyatsia, and Ugallery. Bidding for each NFT will start at 0.08 ETH. They aim to raise at least $1 million.

Waone Interesni Kazki

 A well-known contemporary Ukrainian artist, Vladimir Manzhos, aka Waone Interesni Kazki, is selling NFTs of his most famous paintings, which are inspired by surrealists and Ukrainian folk tales. Of the money raised, 50% will go toward defense and medical supplies via Ukrainian war charities.

The aim is to raise $7,000 from NFTs of paintings such as “The Seed of a Good Idea,” “Beta to Alpha Transition” and “Prisoned Mind.” These are 1/1 edition NFTs, each of which is selling for $290.

Reli3F

Headed by crypto artists and prominent NFT influencers, Web3 humanitarian initiative Reli3F initiated a large NFT sale that included pieces from 37 artists, including Danny Cole, Vinnie Hager, Sartoshi, Gremplin, Ravi Vora, and more.

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All the proceeds of the sale were sent directly to Ukraine relief efforts. Within 30 seconds of the initial launch, the NFT project sold out, raising over $1 million dollars.

TIMEpieces

TIMEpieces, a Web3 NFT community initiative from Time magazine, announced an exhibition, “Make Art Not War.” 100% of the income raised from the exhibition will be sent to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. 

According to Time, collectors have minted over 10,000 NFTs from 99 collages of images — with each collage representing a year in Time’s 100-year-long history. Cointelegraph!