The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reportedly starting accepting donations in nine major digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). At present, only UNICEF’s office in France is accepting crypto donations.
Nine Major Cryptocurrencies Accepted
In addition to BTC and BCH, UNICEF’s French office is accepting Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Monero (XMR), Litecoin (LTC), Dash, and EOS. People who want to donate cryptocurrency to UNICEF France can do so by visiting their website.
Sébastien Lyon, the executive director at UNICEF France, commented on the organization’s announcement by noting:
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology used for charitable purposes offer a new opportunity to appeal to the generosity of the public and continue to develop our operations with children in the countries of intervention.
Lyon also mentioned that cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology offer an innovative way to raise funds for various social causes, however, there are currently not many organizations that are harnessing their benefits.
The French UNICEF head acknowledged that there are a few communities which have started the positive trend of accepting charitable donations in cryptocurrencies. In May, the Shacklewell Lane mosque in East London announced it would accept charity in cryptocurrency.
Notably, this is not the first time that UNICEF has introduced a crypto-related initiative. In February, the New York-based humanitarian organization started a fundraising effort to help children in Syria, which has been embroiled in a violent civil war since 2011.
“Game Chaingers”, “The HopePage”
UNICEF’s fundraising campaign was called “Game Chaingers” and aimed to get online video game players involved in an effort to help children suffering in Syria. In order to participate in the charitable initiative, users had to download a crypto mining app from UNICEF’s official website.
After installing the app, the users’ computing resources were used to mine Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH) – which went towards offering developmental assistance to children in Syria. The Game Chaingers program managed to raise 85 ETH, an amount valued at nearly $21,000 according to CryptoCompare data.
In May, UNICEF’s office in Australia began its own crypto fundraising effort by launching a website called “The HopePage.” People who visit the website can donate their computing resources in order to mine cryptocurrencies. The digital currency generated from mining is then used to help the citizens of underdeveloped countries.
