CryptoPunk Aids Ukraine

Ukraine was able to raise USD 103,000 through the sale of a non-fungible token (NFT) created by CryptoPunk. This comes on the heels of a donation of USD 103,000,000 made by a Nobel laureate for the benefit of child refugees in Ukraine.

According to Alex Bornyakov, deputy minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the donated Punk was CryptoPunk #5364, and was sold for ETH 90 (about USD 103,190).

At the beginning of the month of March, the Punk was sent to the official Ethereum (ETH) address of the nation. Bornyakov expressed his anticipation back in April that the CryptoPunk will sell for around USD 200,000. Since then, the price of ETH has experienced a huge drop: at the beginning of April, it traded for approximately USD 3,500, while it currently (as of 7:30 UTC) sits at USD 1,150.

Similarly, Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, who was given the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2021, has vowed to donate the revenues from the sale of the gold medal he received as part of his prize to organizations that assist refugees of Ukrainian children.

The previous record for a Nobel Prize was broken on Monday night when it was reported that the Nobel Peace Prize was sold for a staggering sum of USD 103.5 million.

In an interview conducted following the conclusion of the bidding process, it is alleged that Muratov commented, “I was hoping that there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity, but I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount.”

Muratov has committed to donating the revenues to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), with the intention of assisting the charitable organization in its efforts to generate money for children who have been uprooted as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. It was reported that UNICEF acknowledged it had got the monies just a few minutes after the completion of the bidding.

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The opening of the online bidding process occurred on June 1 to coincide with the celebration of the International Day of the Child. The bidding process remained open for over three weeks until coming to a close on World Refugee Day.

Muratov served as the editor-in-chief of the independent Russian daily Novaya Gazeta until its closure in March as a result of the Kremlin’s crackdown on journalists in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This crackdown came as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A tweet published by Bornyakov on June 11 states that Ukraine has “raised over [USD] 135 million in crypto in response to the Russian invasion.” Nevertheless, he added that “the first wave of crypto donations has subsided,” and he appealed for additional assistance.

Late in February, not long after Russian troops entered the country, the Ukrainian government started taking cryptocurrency donations. Since then, the nation has increased the number of times it tries to raise money using cryptocurrency.

In the month of May, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, introduced a brand new fundraising website that was given the name United24. This platform takes donations in more than one hundred distinct cryptocurrencies.