The NFTs of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Ukraine wants to launch a new collection of NFTs dedicated to the war against Russia.

The purpose of NFTs in war

This was revealed to The Guardian by the country’s deputy minister of digital transformation, Alex Bornyakov, who said that this collection will be: 

“like a museum of the Russian-Ukrainian war… in NFT format”.

A few days ago Bornyakov himself revealed on Twitter that crypto assets have already proved extremely useful in facilitating funding for the Ukrainian military. 

Crypto assets proved extremely helpful in facilitation of funding flows to the Amed Forces of Ukraine. Huge thanks to everyone who donated to the Crypto Fund of Ukraine.

Each and every helmet and vest bought via crypto donations is currently saving Ukrainian soilders' lives. pic.twitter.com/CghDmXEcJG

— Alex Bornyakov (@abornyakov) March 11, 2022

So cryptocurrencies and NFTs are being used for two purposes within this conflict: as a system of transferring funds from external donors to the warring countries – especially Ukraine – and as a way of leaving a permanent trace of what is happening. 

Bornyakov’s ministry has also set up a new website to facilitate donations. 

Crypto proved to be a real life saver thanks to its ease of use. We at @mintsyfra made crypto donations even easier. Together with @everstake_pool and @FTX_Official we announce https://t.co/8LsgXj0HSB — a website where you can donate crypto to save Ukraine.

— Alex Bornyakov (@abornyakov) March 14, 2022

The NFT collection of the Russia-Ukraine war

The NFTs in the new collection will be linked to unique works of digital art, and each token will be linked to a work of art representing a war story taken from reliable sources. However, Bornyakov also specified that they will not be available any time soon because it takes time to prepare.

Surely, in addition to the goal of using NFTs to indelibly immortalize what is happening in Ukraine, there is also the goal of raising additional funds, perhaps to be used for reconstruction after the conflict is over. 

The role of crypto assets in the war

Crypto assets are playing an important, though certainly not decisive, role in this war. On the one hand, they are proving to be very useful in transferring funds quickly and easily from all over the world to a country in a state of war, overcoming any barriers or limitations that might be imposed by traditional systems. 

On the other hand, they are adding new digital tools to the arsenal of countries at war, and in this case to state propaganda. 

To all intents and purposes, these are innovations that introduce new methods of fundraising and communication. It is possible that, given the success they have already achieved, they could also be exploited in the future in other similar conflicts, given their relative ease of use. 

It is worth bearing in mind that some of the things that can be done with crypto assets have never really been done before with other technologies, because some of the innovations brought by cryptocurrencies are unique and never seen before. It is up to humans to find new and interesting use cases to make the most of them.