Tezos NFT Community Raised 60K $ in 72 Hours in Support for Ukraine
In the morning of Thursday, February 24, Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine. A wave of anti-war and pro-Ukraine protests has swept the globe in condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A unique anti-war and donation initiative on the Tezos blockchain has been launched in support of Ukraine by NFT artists and community members, integrating art and strong financial instruments of NFTs and blockchain, rising more than …$ donation funds in 72 hours.
February 25, two NFT platforms on Tezos blockchain, fx(hash) and Versum, have established a wallet address that acts as a donation contract to distribute funds to non-profit organizations helping Ukraine. All funds received by that wallet will be transferred to Ukrainian non-profit organizations that accept crypto donations and are listed on The Giving Block .
NFT artists and community members have largely supported the initiative. Numerous NFT artists minted artworks on various NFT platforms on the Tezos blockchain (Versum, fx(hash), TEIA) with all proceeds automatically transferred to support of Ukraine. In their article “Generative Art in Support of Ukraine” Cicero writes:
“This initiative is perhaps unique by its reach and speed. Never before had so much art, produced by so many artists, been available to collectors in so little time. An element of success certainly resides in the trust and speed provided by the blockchain technology: these proceedings are openly traceable through their record on the blockchain.”
Almost all of the artworks highlight the blue and yellow palette of the Ukrainian flag that have become a symbol of sovereignty and anti-war protests, a symbol of international support for Ukrainian people.
There is a board that displays all artworks on Tezos blockchain with all proceeds donated to Ukraine. Below is a selection of artists who contributed to the donation campaign on Tezos.
In addition, NFTBiker and Empress Trash, prominent members of the Tezos community, compiled a list of Ukrainian artists to make it easier for collectors to collect their art in order to support them directly. On the project website, more than 100 Ukrainian NFT artists are featured at the time of the article’s publication. Also, Cabline, curator of the Tezos NFT platform Objkt, has dedicated her Twitter account to supporting Ukrainian artists.
With other payment methods becoming unreliable during the Russian invasion, crypto donations have emerged as a major way of fast financial international aid, as they are borderless, permitless, and quicker and easier than bank transfers. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has raised more than 15 million $ in cryptocurrencies through an unprecedented government-led crypto crowdfunding campaign. Coordination efforts like this demonstrate the potential for NFT, crypto and Web3 to be used for social good and humanitarian aid.
Web3 communities collaborating to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine have demonstrated what artists, community and technology can achieve together in 72 hours. Combined, I believe, we can accomplish much more.
If you wish to donate directly, send tezos (no NFT donations, only tezos) or set up a collab contract on versum.xyz, fxhash.xyz, or teia.art to direct % of the fees to this fundraiser address:
KT1DWnLiUkNtAQDErXxudFEH63JC6mqg3HExView the fundraiser contracts transactions on tzkt.io
Instructions for artists how to set up a donation contract on TEIA are here: https://github.com/teia-community/teia-docs/wiki/Ukranian-Fundraising
