UNICEF starts accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum donations

The United Nation’s UNICEF has put up a crypto fund that will see it receive, hold and dispense donations made in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The purpose of the aim is to support open-source technologies for children in different parts of the world.

The step is unique for the UN Children’s Fund as it will receive donations in digital assets and allocate them as grants in digital currency. The Ethereum Foundation has already sent its contribution according to UNICEF. The contribution will “will benefit three grantees of the UNICEF Innovation Fund.”

The grantees to benefit from the initial fund are Prescrypto, Atix Labs and Utopixar. The three focus on the areas of “prescription tracking, matching investors and those needing funding, and community tokens and engagement.”

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a comment regarding the new fund:

“This is a new and exciting venture for UNICEF,” the director continued “If digital economies and currencies have the potential to shape the lives of coming generations, it is important that we explore the opportunities they offer.”

Aya Miyaguchi, executive director of the Ethereum Foundation while speaking at the DevCon event that his foundation had donated 100 Ether towards the fund.

“Together with UNICEF, we’re taking action with the Crypto Fund to improve access to basic needs, rights, and resources,” Miyaguchi said in the announcement.