Тhe whole world has turned against Russia following their invasion of Ukraine. The West has imposed massive sanctions against Russia, but direct aid towards those who remain in Ukraine and those fleeing seems to be lacking.
This is why many communities have made an active effort to support the Ukrainian people by renting out AirBnBs, which give direct donations to those who had to flee their homes or offer their homes to those migrating to neighboring countries.
The NFT community is not apathetic to what is happening, and a massive campaign has been launched to support the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government against Russia’s aggression.
Amir Fallah, Ana Maria Caballero, and Sara Ludy organized the “Art for Ukraine” fundraiser after feeling helpless about the whole situation and realizing they couldn’t just stay detached and focus on their work while such crimes were happening in the world.
The NFT collection will consist of one unique art from each artist with 100 minted editions. Each non-fungible token can be bought using Tezos, a more environmentally-friendly alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The Tezos currency is also more accessible due to the much lower price currently it stands at around $3-4 dollars compared to Ethereum’s $2,600 fee.
“The reason we chose to use Tezos was to make the project very inclusive. We wanted to make sure that people found it accessible to donate as well as buy,” says Fallah.
The system is built around smart contracts, digital contracts written on a blockchain that automatically transfer payments once certain conditions have been met. The smart contracts are connected to seven aid-giving charities in Ukraine, and so far, over 6,000 Tezos or almost $20 000 have been raised just from those direct donations.
The “Art for Ukraine” is just one of many ongoing initiatives launched to support the Ukrainian people. Along with the NFT campaign, a show with a fundraiser is happening with the involvement of Ukrainian NFT artists Philipp Kapustin and Yura Miron.
Nadya Tolokonnikova organized an Ukranian DAO where an auction of people bidding for an NFT version of the Ukrainian flag effectively gathered donations.
According to Nadya, “We purposefully avoided adding our art to this release; in a way, it’s our strong conceptual artistic statement. People can have different aesthetics, but it’s not about what color we prefer, it’s about uniting to save lives,” She and everybody in the campaign believe that “The Ukrainian flag unites us.”
