A Goa-based artist who goes by her alias Swayatra, and is part of the 44-artist single edition on MakersPlace, says, “Artists within the collective were having their own difficulties and were trying to help each other out. Since cryptocurrency is peaking at the moment, coming up with this idea to donate made sense. We decided to take up the theme, Life, and we were given four days to complete our work. All the money made from both lots will go to Crypto Relief,” she reveals. Artist Jatin Pathi adds, “Almost 50 per cent of artists had either suffered from Covid-19, or knew someone who was affected. We all created this with the hope to help people out there.”

Goa-based mandala artist Swayatra

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.79%

AAP 42.62%

INC 24.59%

Submit

View All In Poll

Funds will flow to Crypto Covid Relief Fund, a platform that saw a donation of $1 billion from Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin. “Because of the nature of blockchain, we have the capability to be extremely transparent; it’s essentially a decentralised ledger which is communally maintained and people are able to see exactly what’s happening,” says Ajay Dhillon, core team member of Crypto Relief. 

Ajay Dhillon and Sandeep Nailwal

The idea of setting up the relief came from Nailwal, founder of Polygon that links Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. “We didn’t anticipate this wave and we were already dealing with requests of oxygen, where six out of 10 people died by the time help arrived. So, I decided to set this up. Within 20 hours, we were able to raise close to $1 million dollars in cryptocurrency,” he says.

The long-term game plan of the relief is turning towards mass vaccination. “We’re looking at vaccinating en masse, especially people and youth in poorer areas, who can’t pay or have the know-how to register for the vaccine. We hope to initiate it before the third wave kicks in,” he signs off.