The Ukrainian government has announced the creation of a non-fungible-token (NFT) collection to tell the storey of Russia’s invasion of the country. The collection will be “like a museum of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” according to Alex Boryakov, the country’s deputy minister of digital development. In NFT format, we wish to tell the world.”
For the uninitiated, NFTs are any digital goods that are recorded on a Blockchain distributed database, such as drawings, paintings, music, GIFs, and so on. NFTs are immutable, which means they can’t be changed or amended once they’ve been uploaded.
Bornyakov said each NFT art would represent a story from the war. Every piece of art would be backed by a reliable news source. “We want it to be cool, good-looking, and it takes time,” he told The Guardian.
Ukraine has already received over $88 million in cryptocurrency donations, according to Merkle Science, and the government presently has roughly $7 million in Ethereum in its wallet. The Ukrainian government has requested financial assistance in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Polkadot, as well as Dogecoin, TRON, Solana, and NFTs.
Boryakov noted in a tweet on March 11 that the crypto funds received are being utilised to purchase goggles, optics, helmets, and protective vests. With the cryptocurrency donations collected around the world, at least 5500 bulletproof launchers, 500 ballistic plates, 3,427 medicines, 60 walkie talkies, 410,000 packed lunches, 3,125 thermal imagers, and 500 helmets have been purchased.
Earlier this week, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection announced that it has donated $1 million in cryptocurrency Ethereum to Ukraine’s official crypto wallet address. In a tweet, BAYC’s official handle said: “It’s been inspiring seeing our community come together in support of Ukraine – almost $1m in ETH has been donated to Ukraine by wallets containing a BAYC ecosystem NFT. Today we’re matching that with a $1m ETH donation of our own.”
Celebrities such as basketball legend Steph Curry, musician Post Malone, and even American TV host Jimmy Fallon possess BAYC NFT. Eminem, the rap musician, was the most recent to join the NFT frenzy, with his first BAYC buy costing 123.45 Ether valued $452,000. (Rs 3.36 crore approx.)
Meanwhile, Metamask, a cryptocurrency wallet, and OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, have banned all accounts from the US-sanctioned countries. Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies placed sanctions on Russia.
