Unicef has recently launched a pilot project called Unicef’s Game Chaingers, which recruits gamers to use the processing power of their computers to mine cryptocurrency Ether, to aid Syrian children. It is still in its infancy, and has currently raised a little more than £1500. The project is part of wider efforts by Unicef and other UN agencies to utilise blockchain technology to change how aid organisations raise money and increase financial transparency. One such scheme was put in place by the World Food Programme(WFP) who used Ethereum to deliver $1.4m in food vouchers, via iris recognition scanners in camp supermarkets, to around 10,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
