Founding Member of Rock Band Pussy Riot Announces UkraineDAO

Key Insights

• Pussy Riot founder, Trippy Labs, and PleasrDAO launch UkraineDAO
• Volunteer groups and NGOs have separately raised $4m in crypto donations
• Ukraine only introduced new laws on crypto last week

Russian rock band Pussy Riot hit the news in 2012 for protesting ties between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church. The band was famous for performances in public places.

Following a famous Church incident, several band members were each imprisoned for 2-years.

The band’s anti-Putin stance has put the spotlight on Pussy Riot and founder Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. Tolokonnikova was one of two band members that served out 21-months of a 2-year sentence back in 2013.

Pussy Riot Goes DAO in Support of Ukraine

With the band’s anti-Putin stance, Tolokonnikova took to Twitter on Thursday, announcing a UkraineDAO. Trippy Labs and PleasrDAO members joined Tolokonnikova in launching the UkraineDAO.

This morning, UkraineDAO tweeted: “We are minting the Ukrainian flag because it’s not about any specific artists or aesthetics – it’s about something much bigger than all of us, it’s a pure gesture of solidarity.”

UkraineDAO will sell Ethereum (ETH) NFTs to support Ukrainians affected by the Russian invasion. The Drop will reportedly consist of 10,000 NFTs of the Ukrainian flag. Proceeds will go to NGO Proliska and the Return Alive Foundation.

we're minting the Ukrainian flag because it's not about any specific artists or aesthetics—it's about something much bigger than all of us, it's a pure gesture of solidarity.https://t.co/fiqdOlVcVa

— UkraineDAO (@Ukraine_DAO) February 25, 2022

Other tweets on Twitter included video footage of Russian troops holding hostage staff of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

⚡️ Russian forces hold hostage staff of Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. pic.twitter.com/dHqS0dehbF

— UkraineDAO (@Ukraine_DAO) February 25, 2022

Since the announcement of the DAO, the UkraineDAO has had 1,829 followers.

PleasrDAO comprises a group of digital artists and collectors that acquire art pieces with a charitable link. Founder of Entopic, Trippy Labs, is also no stranger to NFTs, having worked with FreeRossDAO and SuperRare to curate an NFT collection of original art by Ross Ulbricht.

Digital Asset Support Heads Ukraine’s Way

The UkraineDAO has not been the only movement to support Ukraine at its moment of crisis.

According to Elliptic, volunteer groups and NGOs have raised $4m in crypto donations, including Bitcoin (BTC) to date.

The marked increase in Bitcoin contributions comes in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. The surge in crypto support also comes in the wake of last week’s Ukrainian Parliament vote in favor of changes to the law in virtual assets. Last week’s parliamentary vote supported the country’s ambition to become a “leading country for business development in this innovative field.”