Blockchain Technology to Help Save Lives During the War in Ukraine

Blockchain Technology is booming and generating intense hype around the perception of digital art and collectables. You must have heard about the Nyan Cat gif, which is popular on the web and was purchased for $561,000. Jack Dorsey, CEO at Twitter, vended his first Tweet as an NFT for over $2.9 million!

NFTs have existed since 2017. However, now they attract substantial attention as an evolution of fine art collecting. Since November 2017, people have spent an impressive $174 million on NFTs. Shortened from a non-fungible token, NFT might be in a form of a digital image, card, song, video or any other digital item representing a real-world object. Every NFT has a unique code proving ownership over a specific item.

With NFTs, the opportunity to “brag with one’s rights” is often as valuable for owners as the item itself. For instance, many people can buy reproductions of Van Gogh pictures, but the original belongs to one person only. But NFTs are often not about mere art or recognition of one’s ownership. NFTs have now become a symbol of unity in an attempt to save the lives of dozens, hundreds, thousands and even millions of people, animals or the planet.

BLockchain Technology to Help Ukraine

Since their emergence, NFTs are frequently used for charity and fundraising, among other use cases. In 2018, a drawing of a cat turtle called Honu raised US$25,000 for ocean conservation charities. A non-profit Rewilder organizes NFT auctions to raise funds to buy land for reforestation. They claim to have raised US$241,700. Charmin and Taco Bell were also among those who engaged in NFT world to raise funds for charity.

NFTs can also be used to stop wars or to help people who have lost their homes or have unacceptable living conditions and insufficient food and water. After Russia has initiated a full-scale horrific war in Ukraine leading to thousands of deaths of innocent people, Ukrainians turned to this creative tool to raise money and support the Ukrainian army as well as people who are suffering from war consequences.

The global crypto community could have participated in several NFT-related initiatives so far. Among them, The UkraineDAO fundraiser organized by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova has raised 2,174 ETH, which converts into over $5.7 million for training, ammunition and technologies for the Ukrainian military.

Another NFT initiative, The Ukraine Relief NFT collection, was launched by an American of Ukrainian origin. The campaign targets to raise money that is transferred to the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) and will further be used to help Ukrainians suffering because of the war.

Fortza Ikonia’s Stand With Ukraine program is also focused on NFT. In collaboration with Felipe Posada, they intend to mint one NFT per Ukrainian, resulting in over 43 million NFTs, each can be purchased for $10. 100% of the raised money are to be transferred to charities

helping Ukrainian people. A similar initiative was launched by RELI3F, a web3 initiative, which united 23 artists in support of the Ukrainian people.

A Fresh NFT Initiative to Save Lives in Ukraine

Recently, the Ukrainian NGO «Noosphere Association» has also launched a fundraising campaign called Art for Life for the needs of the Ukrainians using the artwork created by Ukrainian artists in a peaceful time.

Long before the largest and most dreadful war in Europe in 80 years, in 2021, Ukrainian artists have created 23 art rockets to demonstrate the country’s engineering and creative potential and a desire for peaceful space exploration. The rockets decorated a park in Dnipro city, where everyone could come and get inspired by their beauty and deep meanings.

Now Ukrainian cities are under continuous attacks: artillery shelling and airforce throwing bombs on civil buildings, hospitals, nuclear power plants and killing civilians. The physical rockets are safe. And under such circumstances, the creative effort got a second chance to help Ukraine in a war against Russian invaders.

Volunteers have created digital versions of the sculptures – NFTs – and will sell them through the OpenSea exchange. Everyone who wants to support Ukraine in the war started by the Russian dictator can buy a token for 0.1 ETH. The raised money will help Ukrainians avoid the horrific attacks and murders of innocent people and eliminate the heartbreaking consequences of wartime.

This is a great example of how new technologies and creative approaches can help in setting peace. While global leadership expresses worries that Russia might start using cryptocurrency instead of fiat money following sanctions, Ukrainians are using the tech to return peace to their homes.

Are NFTs Worth Buying?

NFT’s future is undefined, so this investment type is risky. There isn’t enough data to predict or measure their performance. NFTs are quite a new phenomenon, so it may take some time to see if they are worth something. That’s why purchasing NFTs is always a personal decision.

It’s something to think about if the artwork has some personal meaning, some individual value for you. But it’s a different story if you’re buying NFTs for charity. Then it doesn’t really matter what to get instead as the main idea is to help raise money and make something good for society. In return, you will get an NFT, which would be a token of your support to the cause as well as a matter of pride.

About the author: Peter Ivanov

Fintech and innovations analyst and strategist with a background in international companies. Until 2020 worked for UK-based cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO, and before that – for Amsterdam-based VEON—a telecommunications services company with subsidiaries in 10

markets across the EMEA region. CIPR (Chartered Institute for Public Relations) certified strategist with over 10 years of experience in multiple markets.