Wars are expensive. In the past governments have resorted to issuing war bonds to finance them. Are NFTs the new war bonds?

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation has launched the Meta History Museum of War where it is selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) related to the past 34 days of war since Russia invaded.

The NFTs will be auctioned around midnight Wednesday to raise funds to support Ukraine’s army and civilians. Many of the NFTs hark back to posters governments created for war, sometimes called victory, bonds.

When the war broke out Mykhailo Fedorov, the 31-year old leading the ministry was quick to engage with digital communities and has already raised over $71 million by tapping the crypto crowd.

Real-Time Expression

While each war has its form of propaganda which can go on to gain cult status, the creation and sale of NFTs in a gallery documenting ongoing war atrocities remove the time aspect which usually lies between the events and their artistic representation.

Looking at the NFTs, it seems odd to be focusing on the value or sellability of ministers' tweets which are sometimes embedded in the illustrations when the war is still happening. 

Hollywood 

However, perhaps this is not much different from when Hollywood actors would go on fund-raising drives, entertaining troops and holding events to sell bonds across the United States to raise money for the war effort during World War II. 

Actors Mila Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, and her husband Ashton Kutcher, are a modern-day extension of that. The couple is raising funds for Ukraine via GoFundMe.org. To date, they raised over $35 million from nearly 75,000 people, beating their $30 million goal. Oracle’s Larry Ellison was the top donor, pledging $5 million. 

While Ukraine is selling NFTs today, during WW2 actress Betty Grable auctioned a pair of her stockings for $40,000, which equates to around $650,000 in today's dollars. Modern-day warfare has prompted people to come up with modern-day and, arguably, more efficient means of fundraising.

 Reporting by Jade Cano and Marco Babic