UNICEF has launched a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum to honour the UN agency’s 75th anniversary.
The launch featured an exhibition titled “Patchwork Kingdoms” by digital artist and data scientist, Nadieh Bremer.
UNICEF says the proceeds from the launch will go towards its many projects. These include Giga’s effort to subsidise internet connections for children around the world.
The Giga Initiative, launched in 2019, is a global project led by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
It aims to connect every school in the world to the internet to allow children to benefit from web-based information and possibilities.
The Patchwork Kingdoms collection features 1,000 NFTs built in collaboration with NFT marketplace Snowcrash Labs, the Ethereum Foundation, and Metagood.
According to UNICEF, the creators of the NFT painted each one using data collected from over 282,000 classrooms in 21 countries.
Bremer says the work of “It’s a Small World” creator Mary Blair inspired her. So she started with the idea of using simple geometric shapes, squares, circles, and triangles to build sets and cities.
“In the final visuals, each school has become a tiny square, interlocking with other schools to form Kingdoms, split between those connected and disconnected to the internet,” she said.
UNICEF has been working with blockchain technology since before the launch of the CryptoFund in 2019.
Cryptofund is a new financial vehicle that allows UNICEF to receive, hold, and disburse cryptocurrency.
For years, the UNICEF Innovation Fund has been investing in blockchain. It has also sponsored early-stage, open-source Web3 initiatives with the potential to benefit children throughout the world.
