Since 2019: Ethereum Project has been collaborating with UNICEF Crypto Fund and we are proud to have made regular donations. In this article, I will be sharing our experience as a team, discussing some of the accomplishments of our association, and looking at what’s coming next.
How did it all begin?
In an earlier blog postI explored potential opportunities for Ethereum in emerging economies. We asked ourselves the following questions. “Who would benefit the most from Ethereum?”
The answer was evident – the next generation of Ethereum developers and users living in emerging economies. The next question then was: “How do we get to the next billion?”
When we started the Ethereum Project, we were a small team with a common vision. Now, we are a huge community of like-minded individuals. This was certainly an important factor in our success but it also created a natural barrier for those who weren’t connected to the network. We knew that this was preventing us from reaching out to the next billion people.
In Late 2018, I was looking to expand our reach. I met Chris Fabian from UNICEF Ventures and I was pleasantly surprised by their goals and objectives using blockchain technology. I knew right away that we had the potential to form a strong partnership. UNICEF has an extensive network of resources and ongoing work in over 190 countries. They work with start-ups, governments, NGOs and businesses. Furthermore, they are committed to embracing innovation and change internally. This was the beginning of our collaboration. As a result, we began supporting UNICEF Crypto Fund, which was launched at Devcon 5 in October 2019.
Chris Fabian and I had a meeting at Devcon 5, which was also a coincidence Halloween. The UNICEF Ventures team worked hard to coordinate with Headquarters the launch of CryptoFund.
UNICEF Crypto Fund
EF CryptoFund was the first donor to UNICEF and we are thankful for their support. UNICEF Crypto Fund is the first UN-related vehicle to receive, hold, and use cryptocurrency. These startups receive tokens that they can use without having to convert them into fiat currency. This is in the spirit of open-source digital public goods. To date, 2,527 Ethereum and 8 BTC have been donated and 18 investments have been made.
At the same time, the key challenge for UNICEF is transparency and accountability. Donors and other stakeholders are not able to see the real-time, tamperproof financial transactions of a charity. With CryptoFund, each transaction is visible on their website with a corresponding link that contains immutable transaction details for blockchain explorers.
