Gamers Recruited To Mine Ethereum For Charity

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UNICEF is calling on hundreds of millions of computer gamers around the world to help mine cryptocurrency.

UNICEF – the United Nations International Children’s Fund – has launched a project based on digital currency to raise money for children living in war-torn Syria.

The campaigners want to recruit computer game players who have powerful graphic cards built into their systems to help mine ethereum.

Called ‘Game Chaingers’, visiting the UNICEF dedicated web site and giving permission to access a machine will allow the charity’s software to download a mining app.

UNICEF then pools the effort of thousands of graphics cards to mine ethereum, with any tokens freed going straight to the UNICEF account.

Humanitarian crisis

The charity is calling on youngsters to help children in Syria because the age profile of the average donor is more than 50 years old and few have the computer hardware to help the campaign.

The appeal also puts a spin on giving as donors do not have to hand over any money – just some of their computer processing power.

UNICEF says no one should see any change in computer performance as the result of signing up.

Because the app ‘borrows’ a small amount of processing time, no extra electricity is consumed, and donors are unlikely to know when their machines is part of the network, says the charity.

“For the last six years, Syrian children have been living the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, on such a scale that it exceeds the borders of Syria,” Says UNICEF.

“As conflict gets bogged down, the number of people in need of life support increases dramatically. For UNICEF, nearly 8.3 million children need help in Syria but also in neighbouring countries that host refugee families.”

Find out more from UNICEF