The Ukrainian government stated that their Aid for Ukraine crypto fundraising effort sold a donated Cryptopunk NFT and earned over $100,000 to help the country’s anti-Russian military operations.
In March, Cryptopunk #5364 was gifted to a Ukrainian crypto fund. The company sold the NFT to an unidentified bidder for 90 ETH yesterday. NFTs are digital or physical assets that are represented by blockchain-based tokens.
In a tweet yesterday, Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, the agency in charge of supervising the country’s crypto fundraising throughout the war, announced the sale.
Crypto was an aid for Ukraine in the most challenging times
In late February, just after Russian soldiers entered the country, Ukraine began receiving crypto and NFT donations. Since then, the country is said to have raised more than $135 million in cryptocurrencies through cryptocurrency donations and the selling of given NFTs.
A crypto organization collected $6.75 million for Ukraine’s military effort in early March by selling a single NFT of the Ukrainian flag. The Ukrainian rap group Kalush Orchestra, this year’s Eurovision victors, auctioned off their trophy to generate over $1 million in ETH for the foundation a few weeks ago.
The cryptocurrency fund assists Ukraine’s military in purchasing non-lethal goods such as protective vests and medical kits. The Ukrainian government does not hold or spend the cash; it just approves and monitors the initiative. The fund’s treasury is run by the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna, which is used to assist support volunteer purchases.
Ukraine’s use of cryptocurrency throughout the crisis has acted as a case study for the potential benefits of crypto in geopolitical situations when fiat cash (such as US dollars) is difficult to transfer fast.
Furthermore, the present crypto bear market has completely exposed crypto and NFT contributions. The price of Ethereum has dropped about 70% in the previous ten weeks, severely limiting the fundraising possibilities of NFT collections based on Ethereum, such as Cryptopunks.
The Cryptopunk that was sold yesterday raised a little over $100,000 for Ukraine’s war effort; the same value of ETH would have been worth almost $267,000 on the day the NFT was given in March.