UkraineDAO raises over $6M via NFT sale to aid Ukrainian citizens

One week into the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the team behind UkraineDAO announced their efforts will go to local NGO Come Back Alive.

UkraineDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization created by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Trippy Labs and PleasrDAO members, crowdfunded 2,188 Ether (ETH), or $6.1 million, for a 1/1 Ukrainian flag nonfungible token (NFT). Proceeds will go to nonprofit organizations in Ukraine that are helping those affected by the Russian invasion.

The NFT sale was hosted as a PartyBid auction, allowing people to pool resources and bid collectively for fractionalized ownership of the digital Ukrainian flag. Contributors will receive ERC-20 tokens in the form of LOVE tokens depending on the donation amount. At the time of writing, the NFT has not been fractionalized and the funds have not yet been distributed.

1- $LOVE TLDR (and thread)

✅ Funds (over $6M / 2100ETH) safu in the ukrainedao.eth multisig
✅ We will combine partybid contributions & direct ETH contributions with a snapshot tomorrow at 6AM EST
✅ $LOVE tokens distributed tomorrow evening https://t.co/It87H0mTYi

— UkraineDAO (@Ukraine_DAO) March 2, 2022

In a Twitter Spaces session hosted post-sale close by NFT Now, co-founders Crypto Steve and Tolokonnikova said their mission is to leverage the power of the crypto community to help those who need it the most.

CryptoSteve, as he is known on Twitter, said that UkraineDAO came together thanks to people who “just started raising their hands, being of service and selfless.” He said that the beauty of a DAO is its potential to set a new paradigm for fundraising and added that his key learning 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 came to the decision to distribute the proceeds of the sale, Tolokonnikova said that it came down to respecting everyone’s voices within the DAO. After reaching out to different local nonprofits, she said, they determined that Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian nonprofit that provides equipment for the army, was the “most trusted and effective” choice.

However, they decided that the money will be channeled only toward medical help, not toward military equipment. Tolokonnikova added that the next step before sending the funds is to make sure that the nonprofit’s wallet is set up properly and securely.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced that the country plans to continue raising money through the sale of NFTs, having raised a total of almost $40 million so far. UkraineDAO is still accepting direct crypto donations.