UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund Makes Its Largest-Ever Investment

Today eight technology companies from seven different emergent economies will receive an investment of Ethereum cryptocurrency from the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund.

UNICEF’s crypto-enabled investment vehicle has given these companies 125 ETH, worth approximately $28,600, to use in scaling or prototyping their respective technologies over the next six months. Companies receiving this investment have already received as much as $100,000 in fiat currency from UNICEF’s Innovation Fund.

One such company, Afinidata, offers educational content to parents with young children. Another one, Cireha, builds communication systems for children with speech or language impairments to use in the offline world. These are companies with a mission, and UNICEF is giving them some cryptocurrency-enabled momentum to carry that mission further forward.

“We are seeing the digital world come at us more quickly than we could have imagined – and UNICEF must be able to use all of the tools of this new world to help children today and tomorrow,” said UNICEF Ventures co-lead Chris Fabian in a statement. “The transfer of these funds – to eight companies in seven countries around the world – took less than 20 minutes and cost us less than $20. Almost instant global movement of value, fees of less than 0.00009% of the total amount transferred, and real-time transparency for our donors and supporters are the types of tools we are excited about.”

As UNICEF is a United Nations organization that protects the wellbeing of children around the world, it simultaneously works for a better future. As the organization distributes money to tech companies around the world, it’s worth noting that blockchain technology seems to fit squarely into its plans for the future.