UNICEF Refers To The Production Of Cryptocurrency For The Collection Of Funds

Gaining control of one’s browser for the production of cryptocurrency has a somewhat negative connotation, but UNICEF Australia seems to be doing it for good.

The charitable organization founded something called Hope Page, which allows people to make donations by keeping the web-page open and using your computer’s processor to extract these digital dollars. It connects to the Coinhive application, which mines Monero.

As you visit the page, you’ll have to confirm and select how much processing power (between 20 to 80 percent) you want to give over.

Jennifer Tierney, UNICEF Australia’s Director of Fundraising and Communications, said in a statement, “We wanted to leverage new emerging technologies to raise awareness about current humanitarian crises and raise funds to support children caught up in them.”

“The HopePage allows Australians to provide help and hope to vulnerable children by simply opening the page while they are online.”

Cryptocurrency mining for legitimate causes isn’t a new thing. In February, UNICEF asked gamers to install mining software Claymore to help with support the children affected by the Syrian Civil War.

Commercially, the online media outlet Salon was tested in the browser mining, also using Coinhive, but as a way to generate revenue outside of advertising.

These efforts have been fraught with a bunch of shortcomings, and critics have found these efforts to be wasteful. Mining of crypto currency is an energy intensive exercise, and forcing the processor of your computer to work harder wears out your system. Of course, you can decide how much processing power a page of hope uses.

The site’s instructions explains “If you’re ever worried about power consumption, turn down the amount of processing power you’re donating,”.

If it’s all too much of a worry, maybe you’re better off donating cold hard cash instead.