Ukraine’s government is raising funds 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 collection’s launch on Twitter, boasting that “while Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech.” All sales funds will go to the Ministry of Digital Transformation to support the “army and civilians” of Ukraine.
The collection, titled “Meta History: Museum of War,” associates blockchain tokens with a news item about “every substantial event of the war” and an illustration from an artist. A total of 54 NFTs are currently listed, covering 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 from blockchain company Fair.xyz.
While Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech. @Meta_History_UA NFT-Museum is launched. The place to keep the memory of war. And the place to celebrate the Ukrainian identity and freedom. Check here: https://t.co/IrNV0w54tg
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) March 25, 2022
The NFT launch, which was announced earlier in March, replaces an earlier plan to “airdrop” free tokens to people who had donated cryptocurrency to Ukraine. As chronicled by Vice, the airdrop plan suffered from a copycat scam and complaints that not all crypto donors would receive the tokens. There’s currently no stated plan to give earlier 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 limitations, as well as capitalize on crypto hype to solicit donations. The Ukrainian government has said it raised $54 million (which might be a significant understatement according to a different estimate) in cryptocurrency within the first three weeks.