Ukraine plans to be the first developed country to issue its own collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), capitalizing on cryptocurrency donations coming in to support its defense against Russia, the Financial Times reported.
Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister, announced this plan in a tweet on Thursday (March 3). He said Kyiv would reveal more details on the NFTs soon.
The Ukrainian government has increasingly embraced digital coins to help fund the war, including the armed forces on the ground. The country recently raised over $270 million in “war bonds.”
FT reported that the Ukrainian government had plans already to reward crypto donors with an airdrop, meaning a free transfer of a digital asset, which would encourage people to donate. But that had been canceled as of Thursday, according to Fedorov – instead he wanted to pivot to NFTs.
The Ukraine Twitter account has been appealing for donations in crypto, and has publicly posted addresses for people to make transfers to, using bitcoin, Ethereum, solana and polkadot.
There has been a total of $50 million donated to the government, the report noted.
Read more: Ukraine’s Central Bank Reports ‘Smooth Functioning’
PYMNTS wrote recently that Ukraine has said its banking system remains strong even through the invasion, according to Kyrylo Shevchenko, bank governor.
He said the bank had around $15 billion in international funding in support.
“The National Bank is doing everything necessary to ensure the continuity of both noncash and cash payments and the smooth functioning of the banking system of the state under martial law,” Shevchenko said in a briefing.
These comments came as Russian forces hit several key cities around Ukraine.
The U.S. and U.K., along with other Western powers, have responded through a financial war, laying down extreme sanctions that have caused the Russian ruble to collapse.
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