Ukraine sells CryptoPunks NFT donation for 90 ETH, worth over $100K

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 donated for @_AidForUkraine fund. Crypto community continues to support Ukraine.

— Alex Bornyakov (@abornyakov) June 20, 2022

The CryptoPunk 5364 NFT was donated to the Aid For Ukraine campaign by user 0x165cd3 who procured the artwork on March 1, 2022, for 16.19 ETH, which was worth $31,722 at the time. Soon after the NFT was donated to Ukraine, it got a buy offer for 100 ETH worth $288,414 on April 27 — the highest bid it ever received. 

Fast forward to June 19, Ukraine sold CryptoPunk 5364 for 90 ETH worth $102,640. However, the buyer, 0xc08f6d, spent $103,523 to compensate for the Ethereum gas fees.

The NFT belongs to a collection of 6039 Male punks, a pixelated variation of male characters.

Related: Third non-EU country, Ukraine, joins the European Blockchain Partnership

Ukraine became the third country that isn’t a member of the European Union —after Norway and Liechtenstein — to join the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) as an observer. Following this move, the country plans to expand its interstate blockchain network partnership with other countries.

Konstantin Yarmolenko, founder and CEO of Virtual Assets of Ukraine told Cointelegraph about Ukraine’s interest in running test-node of the EBSI and pilot use cases of the cross-border public services based on the blockchain technology.

He further highlighted that the crypto donations during the Russia-Ukraine war “proved as important support,” stating:

“Next step is full blockchain integration of Ukraine and EU based on EBP/EBSI initiatives.”