The United Nations Children's Fund launched a new website Monday that uses donors’ computing power to mine cryptocurrencies and raise money for impoverished children.
The Hope Page website enables people to donate by keeping the webpage open and uses their computer's CPU to mine the Monero digital currency by using the application Coinhive.
The mined cryptocurrency will be turned into fiat currency and donated to UNICEF Australia. The funds will be used to supply underserved children around the world with safe drinking water, food and vaccines, UNICEF says.
Jennifer Tierney, UNICEF Australia’s, director of Fundraising and Communications says:
"We wanted to leverage new emerging technologies to raise awareness about current humanitarian crises and raise funds to support children caught up in them. The Hope Page allows Australians to provide help and hope to vulnerable children by simply opening the page while they are online."
More than 2,000 people have used the program as a means of donating so far, according to data published on the site.
Arman Shirinyan
Alex Dovbnya
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin