Auction Closing Ceremony in the Metaverse: MetaHistory museum of war

MetaHistory: Museum of War is the world’s first NFT museum created by the Ukrainian crypto community with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The museum’s exhibits are a timeline-based set of NFT art pieces that tell the story of how the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded.

The aim of the project is to preserve the memory of real events. Thanks to blockchain technology and the charitable restoration of historical heritage, after the destructive actions of the occupiers, we’re now able to tell this story at any point in the future, as it happened.

After selling out of the first release of works, the project raised around $1M, and the support of the online community towards helping to rebuild the real Ukraine continues to pour in.

The idea of a partnership in the metaverse came immediately after viewing the collection of works. This is a unique project that allows you to learn more about the modern history of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The Challenge:

After talking with the museum’s MetaHistory team, we identified two objectives that needed to be fulfilled for a successful virtual event:

• encourage people to buy more NFTs to support the Ukrainian people
• give premium value to current NFT holders

To achieve successful implementation, it was clear that access to anyone from anywhere in the world was needed, along with an interactive and engaging experience during the upcoming metaverse event.

In order to fulfill these objectives, it was decided that a space that would be comfortable to hold a virtual auction with a capacity of more than 50 people needed to be prepared.

A virtual auction is a kind of real auction that is held online, using the capabilities of the internet and virtual spaces. The main difference between virtual auctions and traditional ones is that the first ones are hosted remotely. Participants of these auctions can be in completely different places, in different countries.

Another difference between a traditional auction and a virtual one is the time it takes to complete it. A traditional auction continues until all bets run out. The participant who made the maximum bid wins. In a virtual auction, time is limited by the seller, and the winner is the buyer whose bid was the last, and therefore the highest of the proposed bids in a given period of sales.

What happens after the end of the virtual auction? How does the buyer receive their goods? And the seller the money they earned on it? As a rule, payment is made by bank transfer. In rare cases, the goods are paid in cash upon receipt of goods by mail. After a non-cash payment, the seller must send the goods by mail within the prescribed period, sometimes outside their country.

The Solution:

First, we needed to provide metaverse access so that the virtual auction will work on a token-gated principle.

In order to encourage people to buy more NFTs in the promotional materials, we informed attendees that admission to the online auction in the metaverse is only possible for NFT holders who had already purchased illustrations from the first drop. The 3D environment is accessible only via the link that is unique for the virtual event, no additional software was required.

“Only holders of the MetaHistory collection who have already purchased an NFT will be able to join the event. Their funds will go to the state crypto fund. This initiative creates a community of people who are not indifferent to the future of Ukraine. Closed clubs and secret organizations in the modern world of Web 3.0 are called token-gated communities.”

said Yurii Filipchuk, CEO of Party.Space

Second, together with the MetaHistory team, we identified an engaging program that would fuel visitors’ interest in the virtual space until the end of the auction.

The entertainment program consisted of three parts:

1. A panel discussion on “The role of NFT art in supporting the humanitarian effort & the restoration of the cultural heritage of Ukraine”.
2. Hosted virtual quiz with Metahistory NFT prizes.
3. Online auction closing with announcements of the winners.

The notable guests at the virtual auction and at the panel discussion were the founders, blockchain activists, the Vice Minister of Digital Ukraine, the co-founder of UkraineDAO, and Ethereum’s founding father. 

These star guests discussed the role of crypto technology and art in the modern business world and prospects for the development of the crypto industry. To make the panel discussion more dynamic so that the audience can hear different points of view, the invited speakers had only 60 seconds to answer each question.

Questions were open – not addressed to anyone specifically, so the guests were free to jump in as long as they minded the time. Some topics of conversation included: 

• the role of crypto & NFT in supporting the humanitarian effort for Ukraine
• opportunities for increasing the number of donations: developing and upgrading projects that could help raise investment in cryptocurrency
• the place of NFT in Ukraine’s crypto future.

Between the main program parts, there was time for networking between speakers, partners, and holders. This strengthened the bond between community members and fueled interest in future projects.
One of the parts of the program, after the panel discussion, was a virtual quiz with questions that helped attendees learn more about Ukraine with NFT prizes.  

Included were 11 works by the winners of the prestigious Prospect 100 design competition on the final virtual auction of the first drop, which was judged by our panel of international design gurus: Millinsky, Stefan Sagmeister, Hiroshi Fujiwara, David Carson, and others.

Also, the first four works in the virtual space were created just after the invasion. In addition, the auction featured a work chosen by the Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. 

The Results:

Microverse visitors were logged in to the online auction in the virtual party room for more than 2.5 hours. In total, there were more than 40 token holders who accessed 11 NFTs during the virtual auction. 

As a community lead at MetaHistory, Ukraine’s NFT museum, I hosted an Auction Closing event on Party.Space. Was deeply impressed by the qualities of the platform: no lags, quality graphics, fun features like emoji gun. But above all, by how the team went far, far above and beyond any expectation in terms of their support for our event. They worked like crazy 24/7 just to make it happen – for our holders & renowned guests from business, politics, and crypto. I’d work with the Party.Space team again, anytime, anywhere.

Denys Holovatyi, community lead & COO MetaHistory

The value & utility for holders came in the form of allowing the community to gain access to famous individuals involved in crypto, politics, and the VC space. Community members could buy unique NFTs from world-renowned design competitions.

MetaHistory community’s events are special because they help people who care about NFTs communicate beyond just a standard generated art collection and into the realm of serious societal impact and cultural & historic significance. In the metaverse, there was an alignment around one common goal: supporting humanitarian efforts & the restoration of the cultural heritage of Ukraine.

The MetaHistory team noted that the auction is just the beginning of charitable events that will be held regularly, attracting even more star guests who are not indifferent to the future of Ukraine.

Have you visited our metaverse party recently? Feel free to write a review of Party.Space on G2 using the link and G2 will donate to Razom for Ukraine, a Ukrainian non-profit organization.