Why does UNICEF accept cryptocurrency donations? -

Global humanitarian agency UNICEF received a $1 million Bitcoin donation last week, according to CryptoSlate.

Behind the donation is the charitable arm of Huobi Global, a move that will pave the way for more such crypto donations in the future.

Bitcoin for the World

The Bitcoin donations were made to the UNICEF Crypto Fund, a new financial tool that allows UNICEF to receive, hold and spend cryptocurrencies, and the UNICEF Innovation Fund, a pooled fund dedicated to funding early-stage open-source technologies that benefit children.

To date, the Innovation Fund has received $34.9 million, 2,267 ETH and 8 Bitcoin in donations. Both funds aim to help promote global blockchain development and innovation, which will have a profound impact on children and young people around the world.

They also provide fiat and cryptocurrency investments to early-stage startups to help accelerate technological innovation for the benefit of children around the world.

By distributing funds in cryptocurrency, UNICEF, donors, recipients and the public can all track where assets go and how they are used, providing unprecedented transparency in the funding and NGO sectors.

Why would UNICEF accept cryptocurrency?

Thomas Davin, Director of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation, shared why the agency chose to accept cryptocurrency donations.

“The UNICEF Innovation Fund is a $34.9 million pooled fund that invests in early-stage, open-source, emerging technologies that have the potential to impact children globally,” he said, adding that Huobi Charity’s donation will support early-stage open-source projects as well as UNICEF’s continued exploration of digital financing in the future.

He added: “We haven’t seen any other technology cluster grow faster or have more potential to solve any problem that may arise over the past few years than Bitcoin, Ethereum and other blockchain technology applications.”

Davin shared that the crypto fund has so far made more than 12 investments in tech companies to help developing countries and emerging economies, which have previously received grants of up to $100,000 from UNICEF’s Innovation Fund.

Davin said that these crypto-denominated investments are intended to help these companies continue to develop their open source and digital public goods. He explained: "Startups that receive crypto-denominated investments are required to use crypto in the crypto space. This allows UNICEF and our donors to better understand where the investment is going."

This is an appropriate use for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, considering that their core idea is to make money accessible to everyone.