Kalush Orchestra, winner of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, is auctioning off an NFT for charity. The auction will begin on May 25 at MetaHistory (Ukraine’s official charity NFT museum) and will run through May 28. Bids will be accepted in both cryptocurrency and fiat (via Monobank) and will be a friendly competition to see which type of currency can bring in the most donations.
Kalush Orchestra Auction NFT for Ukraine
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 took place on May 14 in Turin, Italy. The event had a television audience of 161 million in 34 measured markets, and 18 million viewers watched the contest online via YouTube and TikTok as well. The winning song was Stefania, performed by the Kalush Orchestra. The band is currently auctioning off the NFT of Eurovision’s glass microphone trophy to raise money to support Ukraine
By purchasing the NFT with cryptocurrency, the lucky owner will receive A 100% unique digital NFT file featuring Mike and the Kalush Orchestra; a special meeting and dinner with a member of the Kalush Orchestra; a chance to bid on a NFT with the Kalush Orchestra; and a chance to win a free NFT with the Kalush Orchestra. Additionally, if your bid is higher than the fiat bid amount, you will also have the opportunity to receive a physical object, a crystal microphone.
At NFT’s special auction Stefania, you can bid on a statue of the winner of Eurovision 2022, which will make Ukraine’s voice as loud as possible.
https://t.co/Boh9SvhpwE pic.twitter.com/d2t6eELq6r– Meta History. Museum of War (@Meta_History_UA) is May 25, 2022
This raffle initiative is a partnership between Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the association of broadcasters that hosts the international Eurovision Song Contest The raffle is supported by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an organization of broadcasters that organizes the international Eurovision Song Contest. All funds raised will be donated to the CO Charitable Fund of Serhiy Pritula.
Forty countries took part in the popular European cultural event, with Russia being excluded from this year’s Eurovision. The Ukrainian song won by a wide margin and was the first song written entirely in Ukrainian. As such, it is widely believed that voters for the song supported not only the music of the Kalush Orchestra, but the country’s struggle in general.
The people of Ukraine, and even the government, are embracing coded donations and the NFT as a means of garnering support in a way that no one could have predicted before the events of the past three months. According to the analysis group Crystal, crypto donations to Ukraine during the war were the largest in history; as of May 12, 2022, this amounted to over $82 million. Given this, it is not so surprising that the first attempt to cast the NFT trophy “Crystal Mike” in Europe belongs to Ukraine.
“Web3 can pool funds in an unprecedented way,” says Alona Shevchenko, co-founder of the Ukrainian DAO. The NFT of the Ukrainian flag launched by the Ukrainian DAO sold at auction for $6.5 million, sold for ETHmaking it the 10th most expensive NFT ever sold.
“This three-month war has shown how powerful and creative Web3 can be when it comes to fighting for human freedom,” adds Rev Miller, one of Unchain Fund’s founding partners. To date, Unchain has raised nearly $10 million in crypto across 15 different blockchains.
“Metahistory stands for any business or effort to collect charitable support for the benefit of Ukraine. So when it comes to such a historic trophy and casting precedent, kudos only happen to MH and the Kalush Orchestra team,” commented VK, CEO &founder of MetaHistory.
What do you think about artists releasing NFT for charity?
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons