A new nonfungible token collection is aiming to give a substantial contribution to a charitable foundation supporting Ukrainians following Russia's invasion. Blockasset says the NFT release has been organized in collaboration with world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, who is from Ukraine himself. The sale comes ahead of Usyk's world title defence against Anthony Joshua on August 20. There are 2,000 one-of-one NFTs of unique artwork, and they feature quirky designs by the world-renowned artist Dosbrak — chronicling some of the key moments from the boxer's undefeated professional career. When the invasion began, Usyk had joined Kyiv's territorial defence battalion …

It took cross-border sanctions and an escalating war for the Ukrainian government to realize the importance of cryptocurrencies, as it witnessed uninterrupted monetary aid in the form of crypto and nonfungible tokens (NFT). In a continued effort to aid the needs of its citizens and the nation, the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Alex Bornyakov, announced the sale of a CryptoPunks NFT for 90 Ether (ETH) that was received as a donation on April 20, 2022. Breaking news on crypto donations: #CryptoPunk #5364 has been sold for 90 ETH. It's over $100K. Few months ago this NFT was …

After Norway and Liechtenstein, Ukraine became the third country outside the European Union to join the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), an initiative derived by 27 member states to deliver cross-border public services. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced the country’s move to join the EBP as an observer on Friday. With the ultimate goal of integrating its digital economic space with the EU, Ukraine plans to expand its interstate blockchain network partnership with other countries. Ukraine’s intent to join the EBP dates back to July 2021, when Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, head of parliamentary group Blockchain4Ukraine, and Konstantin Yarmolenko, founder …

Sergey Vasylchuk, CEO of Ukraine-based decentralized staking provider Everstake, has said the company will continue to hire crypto professionals amid a market downturn and ongoing conflict in the country. In a Wednesday Twitter thread, Vasylchuk said Everstake had hired 30 people since the Russian war against Ukraine started in February, and the firm still had more than 10 positions in marketing and development to fill. According to the CEO, Everstake is “not firing anybody” and had made preparations for a “special fund” to tide the firm over in the event of a bear market. “An important part of doing business …

Following its initial foray into the nonfungible token (NFT) space with the Adidas for Prada re-source project in partnership with digital artist Zach Lieberman and SuperRare, iconic fashion brand Prada has now announced its first independent NFT collection accompanying the Prada Timecapsule. An online event hosted on the first Thursday of every month, Prada Timecapsule has, since December 2019, opened up exclusive access to clothing items on its website for 24 hours. Drop #30 in this series will be coupled with an NFT. According to Prada, the asset’s design will be “decorated with Cassius Hirst’s signature mask and brain scan …

Ukrainian officials have used funds from the crypto donation platform launched by the government to purchase supplies for the country’s military amid its ongoing war with Russia. In a Friday tweet, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that the country had purchased five all-terrain vehicles, which “will come in handy for a challenging environment” — possibly referring to conditions near the front lines with Russia or where roads have been damaged or destroyed. Funds for three of the ATVs originated from Aid for Ukraine, a platform the government launched in March that accepts crypto donations “to support people …

Decentralized blockchain technology has been around for a relatively short period of time, in the grand scheme of things, but its decentralized nature has the power to keep data and information out of the hands of censors looking to create a “safe” and “faultless” version of history. Blockchain is permissionless and literally owned by no one. So, while we can’t save the Alexandria libraries of the past, we can make sure the future is well equipped with the tools necessary to preserve historical records. Here we’ll look at some of the ways nonfungible tokens (NFT) and blockchain technology have been …

A Russian independent news company has raised more than $250,000 in cryptocurrency donations from supporters in order to continue reporting independent news under a barrage of Russian government propaganda and censorship. Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian-language news site that claims to report on “the real Russia, today,” has been asking for donations since April 2021 in the form of United States dollar, euro and cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), BNB, Tether (USDT), Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC). Since publishing their donations plea, the news company has received around $250,000 in crypto donations through 146,000 individual transactions. Around 93% of the …

One of the first punitive measures leveled against Russia in response to the military invasion of Ukraine was the implementation of economic sanctions aimed at isolating the country from the international financial system. On March 12, Russian banks lost access to the international payments and messaging network SWIFT, and private sector payment companies, such as Visa, PayPal and Mastercard, were close behind. But while these highly regulated and publicly scrutinized organizations were quick to react to the crisis, concerns quickly mounted that the Russian state, as well as companies and oligarchs associated with it, could turn to digital currency exchanges …

Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the Ukrainian government tweeted a request for funds in the form of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT). The total received now stands at more than $60 million, according to Michael Chobanian, founder of Kyiv-based Kuna Exchange and president of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine, who posts regular updates via his Twitter account. Unlike support being pledged by governments around the world, these funds were available to the Ukrainian military within minutes — not weeks. For individuals, cryptocurrencies can provide a potentially life-saving method of escape from crises. A computer programmer …

The Binance cryptocurrency exchange is adopting more measures to prevent the Russian government from mitigating the impact of sanctions through the use of crypto. Binance has shut down several accounts tied to relatives of senior Kremlin officials over the past two months since Russia began military action in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. According to the report, the affected persons included Elizaveta Peskova, the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and Polina Kovaleva, the stepdaughter of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Binance said it had also blocked Kirill Malofeyev, the son of Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian oligarch who …

Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, tweeted that the Ukrainian government will accept war effort contributions in the form of nonfungible token (NFT) donations and purchases. Via the official "Aid for Ukraine" crypto fund, individuals can donate cryptocurrency, fiat and now NFTs. So far the initiative has raised over $60 million, according to the website. All funds go toward supplying Ukrainians with weapons, medical gear, medical kits and other expenses outlined on the Aid for Ukraine website. Total expenses amounted to $45,103,538 by April 14. The Aid for Ukraine platform is powered …