Ukraine Launches ‘NFT Museum’ to Remember the War and Raise Funds
Nicholas Otieno Mar 28, 2022 08:00
Ukraine is leveraging blockchain technology to keep the memory of war and celebrate Ukrainian freedom and identity.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced last Friday that it has launched a MetaHistory NFT Museum, a blockchain-based collection of digital images of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government launched a non-fungible-token (NFT) collection to tell the story of Russian ongoing war in which it invaded its neighbour since February 24.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister who also runs the ministry of digital transformation, said that the collection is “like a museum of the Russian-Ukrainian war” that features a series of recent invasion events narrated in non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the form of digital art paired with written reflections.
NFTs are any digital items like GIFs, music, painting, drawing, etc., that are recorded on a Blockchain distributed database. NFTs are immutable, and this means that they cannot be modified or edited once uploaded.
Fedorov 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 stated. The executive said that minting the artwork in the form of NFTs will help preserve the story of the war while also raising funds for Ukraine.
Artists who want to be featured in the museum are allowed to submit a portfolio with their work. Art directors would then review such work to determine the suitability of a creator’s work. Successful artists will be given a particular historical event to create their work from, and after that, the museum will mint the final product as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain.
Each NFT will sell for 0.15 Ether or just over $475. The funds will go directly to the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s crypto wallets and be used to facilitate humanitarian aid efforts in Ukraine.
Using Crypto Aid to Purchase Critical Supplies
Early this month, Ukraine announced plans to issue NFTs to fund its armed forces. The country made such an announcement after it recently started receiving an increasing number of crypto donations from individuals, businesses, corporations, and funders willing to support the Kyiv government.
On March 3, Mykhailo Fedorov hinted that the government would soon issue NFTs to help support its military. The government made the move after it cancelled its earlier plans to reward cryptocurrency donors with an airdrop, a free digital token normally used by the crypto community to encourage participation in a project.
Since the war began, Ukraine has received the majority of donations received in cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Ether and also raised more substantial sums through conventional means.
Ukraine has already received over $88 million in cryptocurrency donations alone. So far, the country has purchased supplies for its military with its crypto donations, including bulletproof vests, helmets, lunches, and medicines.
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