An article in Coindesk from February 24 says the Etherium Foundation made a “shrewd” investment in UNICEF. The company gave $150,000 to the charity in the form of bitcoin and ether back in 2019. The donation has since opened doors, particularly with respect to the relationship between UNICEF’s office in Kazakhstan and the Etherium Foundation. Currently, according to the article, the headquarters of the charity uses the ether platform to move funds to some groups internally.
A UNICEF partnership specialist, Oleksandra Gaskyvech, said the ether platform works “great” for the charity. The Kazakhstan office of UNICEF is said to work out any kinks in etherium’s smart contract process and incorporate it further into the charity’s operations by 2021.
One of the benefits of the smart contract process is its digital nature. Currently, according to the article, there are a number of “double-checks” of a single expenditure by several individuals — checks done using paper records. The digital process was said to make the process more “efficient.” Gaskyvech also said the office may experiment using bitcoin for digital currency transfers.
In other cryptocurrency news involving UNICEF and the Etherium Foundation, the charity has partnered with SoftBank Investment Advisors to introduce a structure for distributing cryptocurrency. UNICEF used this platform to donate to institutions including Coinsense. The Tunisian outfit is using ERC-20 as a community currency to fight the unemployment scourge in a beach town called Hammemet. Roughly 200 teens are paid in the coin by resorts and restaurants. The cryptocurrency can be used for discounted goods at selected businesses.
Coinsense founder Karim Chabrak said in the article that this process allows the community to address unemployment without “waiting” for the government to take action. The project, which Chabrak says could create a framework for other communities, was funded by the Etherium Foundation.
This outreach has introduced ether and its capabilities to a growing number of institutions. This, in turn, has made the crypto-company the outfit of choice for UNICEF and others. The charity says it uses ether in its digital education platforms in Kazakhstan. Etherium Foundation Director Aya Myaguchi was quoted in the article saying these opportunities provide a way for her company to “maximize” the technology being developed. The article also mentions other donations made through the Foundation, including a donation of a bitcoin to an Argentinian startup called Atix Labs. They are developing software that may be of interest to the UNICEF arm in Kazakhstan.
