The Ukrainian government is raising money by selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on a timeline of Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country. Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov announced the launch of the collection on Twitter, boasting that “while Russia is using tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain technology.” All sales funds will go to the Ministry of Digital Transformation to support Ukraine’s “army and civilians”.
Titled “Meta History: Museum of War,” the collection associates blockchain tokens with a news story about “every major event of the war” and an artist’s illustration. There are currently a total of 54 NFTs on the list, spanning the first three days of the war in late February, with the first going up for sale early next week. The project is built on an NFT sales platform of blockchain company Fair.xyz.
While Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain technology. @Meta_History_UA NFT Museum is launched. The place to keep the memory of the war. And the place to celebrate Ukrainian identity and freedom. Look here: https://t.co/IrNV0w54tg
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 25, 2022
The NFT launch, which was announced earlier in Marchreplaces a previous plan to “airdrop” free tokens to people who had donated cryptocurrency to Ukraine. As recorded by vice, the airdrop plan had suffered from a copycat scam and complaints that not all crypto donors would receive the tokens. There is currently no plan to give previous donors an advantage in the sale of the new NFTs.
Cryptocurrency has played a role on both sides of the war, but Ukraine, in particular, has used it to bypass banks and local currency restrictions, and to take advantage of the crypto hype to solicit donations. The Ukrainian government has said: it has raised $54 million (which might be a significant understatement) according to another estimate) in cryptocurrency within the first three weeks.