Ethereum Classic Labs (ETC Labs) is teaming up with the United Nations’ Children Fund (UNICEF) Innovation Fund by providing $1 million to support various ongoing projects. According to a press release, ETC Labs said it will be allocating $750,000 to global startup graduates of UNICEF’s Innovation Fund and provide $250,000 directly to the Fund itself.
ETC Labs also confirmed that it aims to support several blockchain firms established via the UNICEF fund. The Ethereum Classic (ETC) development company intends to offer mentorship and training programs to companies that commit to developing products on the Ethereum Classic blockchain network.
Ethereum Classic is the original Ethereum chain, which has not been modified following a multi-million dollar smart contract security breach on the blockchain several years back. The smart contract belonged to a distributed autonomous organization (DAO) that was launched on Ethereum.
The supporters of the DAO fork, which includes members of the Ethereum (ETH) community, rolled back transactions on the blockchain in order to recover funds lost due to the hack. ETC supporters argued that blockchains must be immutable so they’ve chosen to preserve and maintain the original state of the Ethereum ledger, despite the hack.
James Wo, founder at ETC Labs, noted that the future of blockchain tech depends heavily on practical use cases that can also make a positive social and economic impact.
Terry Culver, CEO at ETC Labs, mentioned that the organization believes in the “promise of blockchain” as it can help make a meaningful social impact and enhance the overall quality of life, with the UNICEF partnership being established from a shared vision.
UNICEF says it aims to look for additional potential use cases for distributed ledger technology (DLT). The organization noted that DLT can enhance efficiency by improving standard or routine business processes.
UNICEF has been supporting blockchain and crypto-related projects. It introduced a Cryptocurrency Fund in October 2019 that can accept, manage, and distribute Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) donations.