NFT platform RAIRtech today announced a special edition of NFTs called “UkraineGlitch,” which seeks to raise $1.3 million to help Ukrainian people in need of medical supplies.
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, RAIRtech stated.
The project features a glitched image of the Ukrainian flag with yellow and blue pixelated ‘bullet holes’ sprinkled in the background to represent the flag under duress.
The limited-run 1991 NFT collection represents the year that Ukrainians overwhelmingly voted for the Ukrainian independence referendum. The collection is hosted on the Ethereum mainnet with each piece priced at 0.1991 ETH ($600).
Masha Mitkov, Fullstack Project Manager at RAIRtech, said, “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.”
“My family emigrated from Ukraine to the US in the early 90's with refugee status. When war broke out over Crimea in 2014, my father started a direct supply chain distribution of high-quality medical supplies directly to the Ukrainian militia. Since his passing in November of 2020, and the onset of a new War in 2022, people have been reaching out to find ways to have access to these products again. Now the Ukrainian Coordinating Council and others have taken over what my father started. I realized I had a unique position in connecting people who needed help and those that wanted to help.”
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. Only UkraineGlitch NFT holders can watch the full animation of the flag transformation on the launch page.
“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 Ukrainian American Coordinating Council specializes in supplying medical supplies, particularly technologically advanced blood-clotting gauze bandages. The UACC 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.
