UkraineDAO, a decentralized autonomous has raised 2188 ETH ($6.1 million) to support a 1/1 Ukrainian flag NFT. The money raised will go to charitable organizations in Ukraine that are assisting those who have been impacted by Russia’s invasion.
The NFT auction was held as a PartyBid auction, allowing users to pool their resources and bid for fractionalized ownership of the digital Ukrainian flag.
Depending on the payment amount, contributors will receive ERC-20 tokens in the form of LOVE tokens. The NFT has not yet been fractionalized, and the money have not yet been disbursed at the time of writing.
Crypto Steve and Tolokonnikova, co-founders of nftnow.com, claimed their mission is to use the power of the crypto community to help people who need it the most in a Twitter Spaces session held after the sale.
UkraineDAO came together thanks to people who “simply started raising their hands, being of service, and unselfish,” according to CryptoSteve on Twitter.
How the DAO works
He explained that the beauty of a DAO is its capacity to create a new fundraising paradigm, and that his main takeaway from UkraineDAO has been:
“If you wanna make something happen, you just start reaching out to friends. The fact that the Web3 space has mobilized faster and at the magnitude that countries do is super powerful.”
When asked how UkraineDAO decided how to share the sale proceeds, Tolokonnikova said it boiled down to honouring everyone’s opinions within the DAO.
She said they contacted a number of local NGOs before deciding that Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian organization that supplies army equipment, was the “most reputable and effective” option.
They resolved, however, that the funds would only be used for medical assistance and not for military weapons. The next stage, according to Tolokonnikova, is to ensure that the nonprofit’s wallet is correctly and securely set up before delivering the payments.
Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, indicated on Wednesday that the country intends to continue raising funds through the sale of NFTs, having already raised nearly $40 million. Direct crypto donations are still being accepted by Ukraine DAO.
