RAIRtech Launches NFT Collection To Raise $1.3Mn For Ukraine

NFT platform RAIRtech has announced a special edition of NFTs called “UkraineGlitch,” to raise $1.3 million to help Ukrainian people in need of medical supplies.

In a statement released Thursday, the company said that all funds from the generative drop will be split between the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC) and the Web3 Developer fund, benefiting Ukrainian web3 developers in Ukraine.

The project features a glitched image of the Ukrainian flag with yellow and blue pixelated "bullet holes" in the background to represent the flag under duress.

The limited-run 1991 NFT collection represents the year Ukrainians voted for the independence referendum. The collection is hosted on the Ethereum mainnet with each piece priced at 0.1991 ETH (US$ 600).

“Generating these pieces was quite cathartic- and at times had me on the floor crying. What seemed like impersonal images based on squares and randomness became a map for the energetic transposition from negative to positive. The tweaking of algorithms eventually led to the perfect balance of chaos and distressed symbolism,” said Masha Mitkov, Fullstack Project Manager at RAIRtech.

With every UkraineGlitch purchased, the number of pixels swapped from yellow to blue increases, eventually inverting or turning the flag upside down. Some pieces are animated to show parts of this progression, while others are still.

The statement noted that only UkraineGlitch NFT holders can watch the full animation of the flag transformation on the launch page.

Cryptos have been a key talking point during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, be it in terms of donations in cryptos or the market movement with the war.

“RAIRtech has long enjoyed working with skilled Ukrainian web3 developers. We worked with several different firms and developers to create our front and back ends,” said Ed Prado, CEO of RAIRtech.

“Since the war began, we found the best way to provide help to our Ukrainian friends was to send crypto. We now want to expand and open up this support effort - this is where UkraineGlitch comes in,” he added.

The UACC specializes in supplying medical supplies, particularly technologically advanced blood-clotting gauze bandages. The council matches supplies with hospitals and transports goods directly to them.

The Web3 Developer Fund gives out small grants on a rapid as-needed basis to Ukrainian developers to help them relocate and purchase food and supplies.