Stephanie Douse 
Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine’s leading soccer team, will sell a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The club plans to auction off several signed jerseys to benefit Ukrainian citizens affected by the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Binance NFT, the world’s leading crypto exchange marketplace for non-fungible tokens, announced the launch of an NFT collection of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, one of Ukraine’s top professional soccer clubs, on Friday. Shakhtar will auction off nine signed jerseys from its ‘Football for Peace’ initiative next week.
The initiative’s main goal is to support Ukrainian children affected by military hostilities in their country by organizing friendly matches and donating ticket proceeds. Binance announced in a blog post that the auction will begin on May 7 and will last one week.
“The winning bidders will each receive a limited edition FC Shakhtar Donetsk jersey with the ‘Football for Peace’ logo,” the trading platform added. All Shakhtar players and coaches, including Ukrainian stars Taras Stepanenko, Mikhail Mudryk, and Andriy Pyatov, will sign the jerseys.
Furthermore, 10,000 NFT Mystery Boxes will be available for purchase for 10 BUSD. From Saturday, they will also be available on the Binance NFT Marketplace. The auction and Mystery Box sales proceeds will be donated to the Shakhtar Social Fund and the Binance Charity Relief Fund. The funds will be used to assist Ukrainians in need of humanitarian aid.
“We are committed to assisting the Ukrainian community in recovering from this crisis.” “Because of the transparency and accountability that blockchain provides, it is ideal for this,” said Sergei Palkin, CEO of FC Shakhtar Donetsk. “Throughout Ukraine’s ongoing crisis, digital assets, including NFTs, have played an important role in providing quick, efficient, and simple assistance to those in need,” said Helen Hai, head of Binance NFT.
Ukraine has been increasingly reliant on cryptocurrency donations since Russia launched its military invasion in late February and has already raised millions of dollars in digital coins to fund its defense and address humanitarian issues. Members of the crypto community and other countries have contributed to or pledged support for these efforts.
Shakhtar was founded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which is now controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The football club’s headquarters were forced to relocate to Kyiv due to the military conflict in the Donbas region. Shakhtar has played its home matches in Lviv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv since 2014.