ETHGlobal

ETHGlobal Istanbul

UNICEF Innovation

$4,000

About

UNICEF Office of Innovation has been working with blockchains since 2015. Most are not aware of this, but we trialed out a first blockchain pilot on the bitcoin blockchain to store cryptographic hashes of photographs as a method to capture, manage and validate a form of ID. Since that first pilot, we have made big strides with various pilots in. smart contracts, ERC20 tokens, NFTs, and even an upcoming DAO prototype with the aim of democratizing the decision making + fund allocation for an open-source public goods project. We are the first UN agency to operate a CryptoFund which can receive Cryptocurrency and use it in its native form (no conversion to fiat!). We have also provided equity free funding starting from $100,000 (also available in ETH or BTC) to 19 early stage blockchain startups from around the world and attempt to integrate their matured open-source products into our core portfolio of global action to impact the lives of children – here is an example of this. By the way, we love open source and digital public goods – we are very active with the DPGA. You can find out more about our blockchain work here and here. Twitter | LinkedIn | UNICEF Venture Fund

Prizes

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💵 Most novel solution solving for cryptocurrencies in cash assistance ⸺ $4,000

UNICEF has been transferring hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cash (either physically or digitally) to thousands of vulnerable people around the world. Can we inject cryptocurrencies to make this process more transparent, faster and cheaper? Can we do this in an empathetic and inclusive manner? To know more about what this area is, you can read the linked article...but please feel free to google for Cash and Voucher assistance. We are chain agnostic and protocol agnostic. What we care about is the use-case, more specifically a creative use of web3 modules combined with time tested web2 fundamentals in solving real world problems. Surprise us! ----------------------------------------------- Some examples of projects supported in the past ----------------------------------------------- * Off ramping without smartphone or internet connection, directly to a mobile money wallet * Virtual bank for refugees enabling cheaper cross border money transfers without smart phones * Various platforms to coordinate and track traditional cash and voucher transfers using permissioned blockchains or NFTs ----------------------------------------------------- Some ideas from us (but feel free to do your own thing) ----------------------------------------------------- * Cryptocurrency transfers triggered due to natural disasters before adverse climate events occur. E.g. Hurricanes or floods * Privacy preserving id for delivering cryptocurrency aid

Qualification Requirements

1. Open source tech stack – Kudos++ for code that does NOT have dependencies on closed libraries and components i.e. we love open source all the way. We do not wish for the design to reveal any personally identifiable information (PII) on-chain (hint: ZKP, MPC, etc.) 2. Clarity of MVP for a UNICEF use case - A clearly articulated business case (for UNICEF, we look at scalability, digital inclusion (e.g. in areas with low internet availability, low smartphone penetration etc.), financial inclusion (e.g. priority to unbanked or underbanked, low literacy levels, low or no availability of national ID APIs etc.). 3. Novelty of idea - Any idea not present in the list of projects supported in the past or an idea previously unthought of in the industry 4. Building on top of or utilizing services provided by current DPGs - Please take a look at the list of DPGs mentioned in the DPG registry (linked elsewhere) and check if you can extend the functionality of these DPGs or build on top of their data in your solution. Your entire solution could be based on these DPGs as well. Please mention explicitly in your presentation if you have done this, along with the name of the DPG.