Notes

How Ukraine finances its defense with war bonds, NFTs or crypto

The epicenter of the latest effort to raise money for Ukraine was a bare-bones office over a bakery located in north London.

Isaac Kamlish was joined by Nathan Cohen and Isaac Bentata aged between 23-25. They gathered together with their laptops earlier in the week and launched the first-ever auction of one-of-a-kind digital items at a national government.
Kyiv raised $600,000 for its defense against Russia by using the technology of the trio.
This auction, which pioneered the use of blockchain technology to facilitate wartime finance, shows the way that Ukraine's government uses both old and new tools to make the money it requires in the midst of the crisis.
NFT is backed by PussyRit member raises $6.7M for Ukraine

Old school is the best playbook. Kyiv has earned around $1 billion worth of war bonds, which were sold to individuals as well as institutions in Ukraine. This is due to the fact that people are willing to lend money to the government, even knowing that they might not receive all their money back.
President Volodymyr Zelesky's administration urged potential donors from all over the world to directly transfer cryptocurrency. The initiative has raised more than $56 million, according to Chainalysis, an analytics group. The NFT sale on Wednesday saw collectors all over the world, including Los Angeles and Barcelona, rush to take part in what they saw to be an historic event for both Ukraine and the crypto world.
"The Ukraine war, which was so destructive and traumatic, will be remembered forever," said Ben Jacobs. Scenius Capital is a digital asset investment company. "This usage is also historic."
Jacobs, who is a California resident, purchased two NFTs for $1,100 and included small fees. About $1,000 of etherthe cryptocurrency used in NFT transactions was given to the Ukrainian government. Ukraine.
A fundraising rush
There have been people in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere to show their support for Ukraine. They have displayed yellow and blue flags over buildings, attended local fundraising events, updated their avatars on the internet and expressed their solidarity by using social media.
Zelensky and his team requires more than words, gestures, and gestures. To ensure that Ukraine's government is running and equip its military, Kyiv requires cash -and a lot of it. According to the Ukrainian government the war may have cost the country $565 billion. Its 2020 economic output was $155 billion.
"Our fiscal gap is wider than we expected when we started this year" Yuriy Butsa, the Ukrainian commissioner for public debt management, told CNN Business, referring to the gap between revenue from government and expenditure.
To help bridge that divide to bridge that gap, the government has launched an unprecedented effort in the five weeks since Russia's invasion to raise money for its cause on a global scale.
Viktor Szabo (a fund manager at Abrdn which is a British-based investment company) said that "these guys are being creative."
A man wearing an embroidered ribbon that displays the colors of Ukraine's flag uses his smartphone in Barcelona on March. 1.

Kyiv employed tried-and-tested methods to raise funds. Ukraine has already received emergency funding of $4 billion from multilateral organisations like the International Monetary Fund or World Bank. A further $2 billion is currently being discussed.
It is also using classic war bonds. These are bonds that governments issue during times of war to obtain support from the citizens. They are also helpful in fighting inflation since they take cash out of circulation in times of frequently a shortage of goods.
Five sales of local currency bonds to Ukraine in March amounted to $1 billion. Butsa indicated that there was a huge demand from both individual and institutional buyers. The funds go to the pot of the government and are then utilized to pay for costs like pensions or emergency services.
Butsa said that "a majority of people are buying $10,000, $5,000 of these instruments."
This is the reason you have to make a risk when you purchase bonds under the current economic climate. One-year notes that were issued last month offered a yield of 11.1%, which demonstrates the very high level of risk. It is not possible to guarantee repayment in the event that Zelensky's government collapses or is exiled, or the economy of Ukraine is destroyed by a prolonged war.
S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit rating for Ukraine within a short time following the conflict. The company stated that while it believes that the international community will help Ukraine to meet its financial needs for the next twelve months, there remains the possibility of disruptions to governance which could put commercial debt servicing at risk.
Butsa indicated that Ukraine's government is working "24/7" to come up with the new dollar bond to offer to investors from overseas. While many want to invest in Kyiv however, they are constrained by capital controls , which prevent them from obtaining returns in Ukraine's currency, as well as other logistical issues.
Butsa declared, "Our intention [is] to offer] an] instrument that anyone who would like to help Ukraine living in the US, having their accounts with the local financial institution can readily support us." His team is also examining possibilities within the European Union.
Despite the support of Ukraine, professional investors -- who have the duty to safeguard their clients' money -- might be hesitant about the possibility of lending money to the Ukrainian government.
Szabo stated that "We are not able to invest our money in assets that have a very high chance of it not being returned." However the entrepreneur said he believes that the market will become more attractive following the end of war.
The Crypto angle
Alternative financing options that do not require borrowing are also appealing, since Ukraine is wary about dramatically increasing its debt load.
Butsa said, "We don’t want to end-up, as the war goes to the reconstruction phase," paying more for debt service than on the construction of infrastructure.
That's where donations to crypto and NFT sales may come in. https://cryptoblogstar.com/how-to-store-my-cryptocurrency-basic-guide-about-crypto-wallets/ has been encouraging its citizens, for many weeks, to transfer bitcoins or any other crypto currencies to official social network accounts. The government has access to huge number of small donors that do not need to worry about currency conversion or complex financial agreements.
Chainalysis reported to Chainalysis CNN Business that Kyiv had raised $56 million in cryptocurrency by the end of March. The median amount of donations was $30. Alex Bornyakov (Ukraine's deputy minister for digital transformation), stated last month that that the funds were used to purchase helmets and vests with bulletproof protection as well as walkie-talkies and medicine.
During the protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people stand in front of the large Ukrainian flag outside the White House on Feb. 24 in 2017.

The sale of an NFT Ukraine's flag by UkraineDAO was backed by a member of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot. More than $6.7 million was raised .
This week, the official NFT Auction marked a new phase in the campaign. The auction featured digital images made by local artists, and combining colorful imagery with artifacts from the war including tweets which were bought by people around the world.
Kevin Lista Navarro, a 26 year-old financial adviser in Barcelona had previously donated to help refugees from Ukraine. He still saw NFT auctions as a great opportunity and purchased two.
"Thanks this technology, you can have the opportunity to contribute and receive in exchange a commemorative work or piece of art," he explained. "Who knows what these pieces of art might be worth in the near term."
Kamlish Cohen and Bentata (the London team behind the nascent FAIR.xyz platform was used in the sale -- were enlisted by cold emailing the Ukrainian government. They've been working on the launch for the past two and a half years working late and working on adrenaline.
Bentata said that "it's been absolutely insane."
Kamlish said that even though there was plenty of visitors to the site the site was able to function smoothly.
Jacobs Scenius Capital, said that Ukraine has really turned towards crypto in order to get financial support... It shows the value governments have in investing in cryptocurrency technology and NFT technology instead of protesting against them because they are new and scary."

Read More: https://cryptoblogstar.com/how-to-store-my-cryptocurrency-basic-guide-about-crypto-wallets/