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Ukraine raises over $600K via NFT sales to rebuild cultural sites Ukraine raises over $600K via NFT sales to rebuild cultural sites

Ukraine raises over $600K via NFT sales to rebuild cultural sites

Ukraine intends to use the proceeds from its NFT sales to rebuild museums, theatres and other cultural and heritage sites that have been destroyed amid its war with Russia.

Ukraine raises over $600K via NFT sales to rebuild cultural sites

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

Ukraine sold 1,282 NFTs on the first day of sale for a total of 190 Ether (ETH), which equates to roughly $655,000 at the time of writing, Bloomberg News reported, citing an email from the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

The country intends to use the proceeds to rebuild cultural and heritage sites like museums and theatres that were destroyed amid the war with Russia.

The Ukrainian MetaHistory NFT-Museum tweeted the sales’ progress throughout the day with the last public tally announced at 1,153 NFTs sold for more than $500,000. The country also announced that it would give away one of the unique NFTs for free to celebrate hitting the half a million mark.

Additionally, META HISTORY announced that only people who owned one of the NFTs would be eligible to purchase the prospect 100 winning artworks, as well as the first four artworks created under the project.

Ukraine’s reliance on crypto amid war

When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, people from around the world began donating crypto to various NGOs that were helping in the war effort. Ukraine quickly jumped on board and began posting official wallet addresses that people could donate to.

In response, the crypto community and industry turned up in full force and donated millions in cryptocurrency and even NFTs. The government’s official website for the donations states the country has received more than $70 million in crypto since the war began.

Ukraine now accepts donations in a multitude of cryptocurrencies and is fourth in the world in terms of adoption. It also officially recognizes crypto as a legal asset now.

Following the massive influx of donations, Ukraine said it would conduct an airdrop for everyone who had donated ETH. However, less than a full day later the country canceled nascent plans to airdrop an official cryptocurrency and said it would instead focus on issuing NFTs to raise funds.

Bitcoin is a humanitarian tool

Citizens of both Ukraine and Russia turned to crypto to try and save their wealth when their respective financial systems fell apart amid war and sanctions.

At the time, chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation Alex Gladstein said that Bitcoin (BTC) was an “important humanitarian tool” that allows people to survive in extreme scenarios, such as war.

Gladstein said:

ā€œThe fact that it canā€™t be frozen, the fact that it canā€™t be censored, and the fact that it can be used without ID is very, very important.ā€