Ukrainian media uses NFTs to raise funds

Amid the raging war with Russia, Ukrainians have yet again found a unique way to use Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to raise funds to support their cause.

Three Ukrainian news organisations, Ukrainska Pravda, Novoye Vremya, and Hromadske have partnered with a non-fungible token (NFT) platform Vault to sell access to unique information on Monday. 

The three publications want to sell a limited number of "NFT keys" that will grant holders access to a digital vault containing selected and original content related to the ongoing resistance of the Ukrainians.

The 10,000 keys will be sold for $99.99 (Rs 7607) apiece through a partnership with NFT platform Vault, which enables producers to create material that is only visible to keyholders.

Each key, according to Vault, "will grant access to information created by the publication's courageous team of journalists, photographers, and editors, including photographs and videos, connections to stories and recommended readings, and a special weekly email blast for supporters."

Users with the appropriate crypto wallet can purchase the NFT keys via Vault's website (Vault uses the Solana blockchain). For those who do not, they can be purchased via Apple Pay through Vault's app.

According to the firm, proceeds from the sales will "directly benefit media organisations." If all of the keys are sold, the magazines will collectively raise $999,900 (Rs 7,68,30,316.20).

Ukrayinska Pravda and  Novoye Vremya are Ukrainian online publications that mainly publishes reports related to Ukrainian politics.

Hromadske is a non-profit organisation that operates television and radio stations as well as a website in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. 

Although these three news publishers are not the first to experiment with NFTs, but they are the first to use Non-Fungible Tokens to create a paywall to access news. Previously, Time magazine, Quartz,  Associated Press, Gannett, etc. have released NFTs.