The NFT Community Is Rallying to Support Ukraine

The NFT community is coming together to help Ukrainian artists. 

NFT Community Stands With Ukraine 

The NFT community is showing support for Ukraine. 

Multiple prominent NFT collectors took to Twitter to promote Ukrainian artists following Russia’s invasion of the eastern European country Thursday. Two spreadsheets compiling hundreds of Ukrainian artists were circulated across the social media platform in a bid to encourage collectors to support their work. Many community members then rallied to buy art from Ukrainian artists as news of the conflict broke, with artists expressing their thanks for the support. 

I’m very proud of the community and also collectors that unitedly support Ukrainian artists today. Of course it’s important to also donate to official places but here we know who will receive the money and maybe it helps to go on and help their families etc. Prayers for Ukraine🙏🏼

— UnknownCollector 🇺🇦🕊🙏🏼 (@UnknownCo123) February 24, 2022

The Ukrainian NFT photographer Marina Light sold 20 pieces on OpenSea Thursday through Friday, by far her biggest burst of sales since she entered the NFT space in early 2021. 

Anastasia Mihaylova, another Ukrainian NFT creator who specializes in nude photography, also expressed thanks to the community after seeing a spike in sales. “Dear collectors, thank you so much for supporting Ukrainian authors in this difficult time from the bottom of my heart!” she wrote, sharing a link to a screenshot of OpenSea email notifications (the NFT marketplace typically emails artists whenever a piece of their work sells). 

STAND WITH UKRAINE pic.twitter.com/g0Q9l23v59

— beeple (@beeple) February 25, 2022

Several leading NFT marketplaces also responded to the conflict. KnownOrigin posted a message Thursday announcing that it would pause its usual social schedule for a day “out of respect for the situation in Ukraine.” It also encouraged its social followers to promote Ukrainian artists and charities. MakersPlace, meanwhile, announced that it would make a donation to RedCross Ukraine and turn its focus to “spotlighting Ukrainian artists” over the coming weeks. Some artists also announced plans to donate a portion of their sales to funds supporting Ukraine. 

punk6529, a pseudonymous NFT enthusiast who’s become an influential figure in the crypto art space over the last year, encouraged the community to support Ukrainian artists. “We can’t do much here about the broader conflict. But we can help our art friends in Ukraine on an individual level. If you are in a position to do so, do take a second look at Ukrainian artists these days,” they wrote.

The conflict has also inspired several new works. Beeple, the digital artist who rocked the art world when he sold an NFT for $69.34 million in March 2021, created a piece dedicated to Ukraine as part of his EVERYDAYS series. The work features an image of Ukraine’s national flag in a war-torn scene. Beeple captioned the piece “STAND WITH UKRAINE.” 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.