The recent invasion of Ukraine has put the world in a state of uncertainty, turmoil and geopolitical risk. The volatility of the global financial markets has caused huge losses to millions of investors. With global inflation rising, liquidity fears dwindling, and interest rates being raised by the US Federal Reserve, the ravages are spreading throughout the global economy.
In addition, the decoupling of SWIFT messaging services from major Russian banks is causing concern among businessmen in the country, while also affecting other economies with strong commercial ties to Russia. With Visa and Mastercard ceasing operations in Russia, there will be incalculable consequences for the interoperability of their payment systems and for the citizens who depend on them.
Amid all these uncertainties, cryptocurrencies and other assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are playing a critical role in trying to mitigate the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine DAO
A collaboration between 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, along with a unique NFT of the flag. So far, it has raised more than $6.7 million to support the Ukrainian military.
A Ukrainian flag NFT was sold for 2,258 Ether (ETH) ($6.5 million at press time) through a service called Party Bid. All the collection of the sale of NFT went to the organization Come Back Alive, which helps the Ukrainian military, volunteers and their families.
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.eth (@Ukraine_DAO) March 2, 2022
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 most affected by the Ukraine crisis. The initial appeal of $19 million on its donation page includes contributions in cryptocurrency. The organization accepts more than 60 types of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), ETH, USD Coin (USDC), Cardano (ADA), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Holy Water
More than 500 Ukrainian artists gathered to submit art to a new NFT collection being sold through Holy Water to raise money for the people of Ukraine. The artists represent some of the most prominent galleries in the country, such as Port Agency, Izolyatsia and Ugallery. Bidding for each NFT will start at 0.08 ETH. The goal is 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, inspired by surrealists and Ukrainian folk tales. Of the money raised, 50% will go towards defense and medical supplies through Ukrainian war charities.
The goal is to raise $7,000 from NFTs from paintings like “The Seed of a Good Idea,” “Beta to Alpha Transition,” and “Prisoner Mind.” These are 1/1 edition NFTs, each of which retails for $290.
AITX NFT Sale
Artificial Intelligence Technology Solutions Inc (AITX) announced that it would raise money for Ukraine’s humanitarian aid through two avenues, the first of which is a minted NFT containing the image of a Roameo produced by Robotic Assistance Devices. Funds are currently being raised through an online auction. The second avenue is a GoFundMe page that has been created by CEO Steve Reinharz to provide funds to a Ukrainian aid organization, purportedly verified by the International Red Cross.
Wladimir Klitschko’s NFT
Olympic champion and boxing icon Wladimir Klitschko released an NFT collection in collaboration with artist WhlsBe. The collectibles will be available to mint in a tiered pricing model of $100, $1,000 and $10,000. The funds from the sale will go directly to Ukraine.
Ukrainian NFTs for defense
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, announced that the government would issue NFTs to help finance its military operations. The appeal raised some $54.7 million for the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian non-governmental organizations, with a smaller amount going to Come Back Alive.
After careful consideration we decided to cancel the airdrop. Every day there are more and more people willing to help Ukraine to fight back the aggression. 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
Reli3F
Spearheaded by crypto artists and prominent NFT influencers, Web3’s Reli3F humanitarian initiative kicked off a huge NFT sale that included pieces by 37 artists, including Danny Cole, Vinnie Hager, Sartoshi, Gremplin, Ravi Vora, and others. All proceeds from the sale went directly to Ukraine relief efforts. Within 30 seconds of the initial launch, the NFT project sold out, raising over a million dollars.
TIME pieces
TIMEpieces, an initiative of Time magazine’s NFT community, announced an exhibition, “Make Art Not War.” 100% of the proceeds raised from the exhibition will be sent to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. According to Time, collectors have minted more than 10,000 NFTs from 99 collages of images, with each collage representing a year from Time’s 100-year history.
Forza Ikonia
Forza Ikonia He has helped raise funds for various Ukrainian charities such as Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International. The incubator, based in kyiv and Gothenburg, launched the NFT project “Stand with Ukraine”, which consists of more than 43,287,512 editions of the artist Felipe Posada. Each edition represents a citizen of Ukraine and is sold for only 10 dollars per edition.
Editions can be purchased by credit or debit card, with all sales going to charities selected by the platform. So far, Forza Ikonia has raised more than $264,000.
ArtWaRks Ukraine
The NFT ArtWaRks Ukraine project was created by a group of Ukrainian computer entrepreneurs, art historians, artists and media creators with the aim of raising money for charitable aid to the Ukrainian civilian population and the Ukrainian military. The project has 57 “ArtWaRks” listed on OpenSea, each selling for around 0.07 ETH or $182.
One of the ArtWaRks of this NFT project is by former Minister of Culture and Sports Vladimir Borodyansky. Other contributors include IT entrepreneur Ruslan Nonka; the co-founders of the NGO Museum of Contemporary Art, Yulia Gnat and Olga Balashova; and many other Ukrainian artists.
The final result
Many cryptocurrency investors see the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a game changer that could cement the usefulness of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in people’s minds, though it’s still too early to tell if this will alter the narrative on how Governments around the world see crypto assets and NFTs. What we do know is that digital assets, like NFTs, are helping a struggling country raise funds to defend its borders.
Innovations on this scale don’t happen too often, and with blockchain breaking into the global consciousness as a robust and valuable financial technology, NFTs could achieve much more than they already have.
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