Crypto Miners Can Help Syrian Children

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 2 min read

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a new fundraising program, called Game Chaingers, meant to help finance the needs of protecting Syrian children. It uses cryptocurrency mining as a method to raise funds without asking for monetary donations.

According to the website, as of right now, there are 335 contributors, having raised almost 900 euros. Anyone who wishes to take part in this can download the mining software from their website and follow relatively simple instructions on how to operate it.

“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? 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,” it is stated on the website, as explanation for any unfamiliar with the industry.

Gamers are specially targeted with this campaign because of their powerful gaming rigs – and especially powerful graphic cards. “Thanks to the solidarity of the PC gaming community, Game Chaingers turns graphics cards into a humanitarian tool and organize the first ever blockchain fundraising by mining Ethereum for UNICEF,” the website elaborates.

“Without lifting a finger or spending a euro” is the selling point of this campaign, although those who do not wish to mine (or donate the Ethereum they already own to the UNICEF wallet) can donate the old-fashioned way: by credit card or PayPal.

Game Chaingers is not the only charity program where blockchain technology is involved. New York based Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless is employing blockchain to empower homeless people. Also, the human rights charity Restless Beings is using the technology to provide IDs to stateless and prosecuted Rohingya refugees. Since 2016, the United Nations’ World Food Programme has used its blockchain-based aid delivery system called “Building Blocks” to deliver assistance to more than 10,000 Syrian refugees. Bithope is an online fundraising platform that allows visitors to donate to a variety of charities with bitcoins. Blockchain for Good is an international think tank organized around the goal of exploring how blockchain can best be developed “for the greater good of humanity, society, economy and our environment.”

Moreover, the Free Software Foundation has recently received a 91.45 BTC (roughly USD 1 million) donation from the anonymous founder of the Pineapple Fund, as reported by Cryptonews.com in January.