Ukraine to launch NFT to mark history of the Russian invasion

theguardian.com:

The Ukrainian government is to launch a non-fungible token marking the history of the Russian invasion with unique digital art, in its latest use of digital assets to fund its war efforts.

The country’s deputy minister of digital transformation, Alex Bornyakov, said the NFT collection would be “like a museum of the Russian-Ukrainian war. We want to tell the world in NFT format.”

NFTs confer ownership of a unique digital item – with pieces of virtual art proving particularly popular – upon their buyer, even if that item can be easily copied. Bornyakov said each token would carry a piece of art representing a story from a trusted news source. He said: “We want it to be cool, good looking, and it takes time.”

The NFT collection is being prepared as a Ukrainian government appeal for cryptocurrency donations passed $60m (£46m), with donations including a CryptoPunk NFT worth more than $200,000.

Bornyakov said the money was being used to buy military equipment and to fund media activities. He said: “We don’t use this fund to buy weapons at this point. We’re buying night vision goggles, optics, helmets, bulletproof vests.”

Bornyakov added that Ukraine’s “digital diplomacy” had brought results, with social media platforms either blocking Russian state media content like Russia Today and Sputnik or labelling it. “We convinced social media platforms, international companies to either block Russia, go