Unicef has asked gamers to mine cryptocurrency to help child victims of the Syrian civil war.
The ‘Game Chaingers’ programme – a play on words referencing the underlying blockchain technology – allows people to donate GPU time to mine Ethereum on behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund.
“Humanitarian collections often solicit the same people with the same methods, but cryptocurrencies and their revolutionary approach are an opportunity to raise funds differently,” says the website.
“Have you heard of Bitcoin? Ethereum is the same, except that you can more easily ‘mine’ the Ethereum via your computer and that money will go directly into the Unicef wallet.”
Volunteers need only fill in their system details and download the mining software.
To date the programme has raised €1,058 via 471 contributors, with 48 active at the time of writing.
The programme is scheduled to run until March 31st.