UNICEF Taps In-Browser Mining to Raise Funds for Children in Need

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is seeking to harness supporters’ computers to raise donations via cryptocurrency mining.

To that end, the organization has launched “The Hope Page” – a website that mines cryptocurrency with the help of visitors’ computer processing power. The non-profit described in a statement that site will “allow Australians to provide help and hope to vulnerable children by simply opening the page while they are online”, ITnews Australia stated.

According to the website, Hope Page allows visitors to select how much processing power they want to contribute to the mining process. The longer they stay on the site, the more cryptocurrency is mined.

UNICEF states:

“Mining is perfectly safe for your computer. If you’re ever worried about power consumption, turn down the amount of processing power you’re donating.”

Any cryptocurrency mined is turned into fiat currency and donated to UNICEF Australia to be used for help vulnerable children worldwide with life-saving supplies such as safe drinking water, food and vaccines.

The browser miner is powered by an opt-in version of the Coinhive API, AuthedMine, and mines the monero cryptocurrency.

According to Jennifer Tierney, director of fundraising and communications for UNICEF Australia, the organization had been seeking to use emerging technologies to raise awareness about current humanitarian crises and collect donations to support affected children.

At press time, over 1,600 people were seen donating computer power to aid the organization.

UNICEF tent image via Shutterstock