- The French UNICEF office has started accepting donations in 9 popular cryptocurrencies
- Ease of using cryptocurrencies for international payments makes cryptocurrencies a good choice for donations in conflict areas
- UNICEF France successfully conducted GameChaingers, an Ethereum-based initiative for ETH miners to assist children caught up in war in Syria
A press release from the French media has said UNICEF France is now taking donations in the form of cryptocurrencies. The local office of the United Nations body will now accept donations in 9 of the most popular digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), ripple (XRP), Eos (EOS), Monero (XMR), dash (DASH), and stellar (XLM).
85 ETH raised
The initiative follows a successful campaign dubbed “GameChaingers” started in February 2018 when the French division of the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) France division launched a fundraising exercise via Ethereum mining.
The fund then implored the world gaming community to mine ETH using their specific graphics cards to raise funds to assist children caught up in the long-drawn Syrian war. Through the successful campaign, they mined 85 ETH in 59 days where 1 ETH was valued at $570.
UNICEF France Executive Director Sébastien Lyon stated that cryptocurrencies and crypto technologies have brought in an innovative way of fundraising for solidarity but only a few organizations are exploiting the opportunity, noting that there were positive trends regarding the spread of crypto-related donations. Leon stated:
“Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology for charitable purposes offer a new opportunity to appeal to the generosity of the public and continue to develop our actions with children in our country of intervention. It is an innovation in terms of solidarity and fundraising that we are still a few to propose, but which tends to become more democratic.”
Crypto donations increasingly more useful than fiat in conflict areas
The continued acceptance of digital currencies for international payments and transfers has influenced the new trend of making donations via cryptocurrencies, especially in conflict areas without the properly functioning financial establishments.
Reddit user “Window7733” recently mobilized the Nano community to raise thousands of dollars to help people in Venezuela besides the Ocean Cleanup project also accepting cryptocurrency donations. Reports also show that people living in war-torn Gaza are using Bitcoin to pay for their supplies even as many NGOs and Humanitarian organizations send their aid in Bitcoin.
Donations in the supported cryptocurrencies are acceptable through a specified website of UNICEF France branch. UNICEF Australia is running a similar campaign using a devoted website called “The Hopepage” where visitors are invited to donate computing power to mine and donate cryptocurrencies. There are at least 22,000 people taking part in mining and donating through the Australian Office Platform.
