Unicef asks gamers to mine Ethereum in fundraising plan for Syrian children
UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) has created a new charity project to aid Syrian children, asking PC gamers to mine Ethereum for the organization and donate the earnings.
Dubbed Game Chaingers, the project kicked off on 2 February and by Tuesday had already enlisted 477 contributors who together had mined €1105.25-worth of donations.
The project was scheduled to continue until 31 March 31, 2018, UNICEF said on its website, with the donations obtained from Ethereum mining ensuring that those children would have access to clean water, education, protection and healthcare.
UNICEF estimated that approximately 8.3m Syrian children required help, yet while the Syrian crisis was easily the biggest humanitarian crisis at the moment it was also the one receiving the least international support.
"Today, humanitarian collections often solicit the same people with the same methods, but cryptocurrencies and their revolutionary approach are an opportunity to raise funds differently. Have you heard of Bitcoin? The Ethereum is the same, except that you can more easily "mine" the Ethereum coins via your computer and that money will go directly into the UNICEF wallet," UNICEF explained.
"Through the use of mining we create an opportunity for those who can not give or have never had the opportunity to do so."
The initiative was aimed at gamers due to the powerful computers they normally use to play their videogames. Further boosting their capacity as miners, the graphics cards used in such devices could also be used to generate cryptocoins.
In order to donate, gamers only needed to install the mining software Claymore onto their computers and then start whenever they wanted to, thus helping to donate money towards noble causes for free.
"Thanks to the solidarity of the community of PC players Unicef Game Chaingers transforms your graphics cards into a humanitarian tool and carries out the first fundraiser by mining the Ethereum," UNICEF said.
Another positive aspect of the project was that it not only revolutionised how money was raised for charities, it also increased the transparency of their funding.