San Francisco, Oct 10 (IANS): The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has now started accepting donations in cryptocurrencies ether and bitcoin through its newly-established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund.

The first contributions to the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund will be received from the Ethereum Foundation and will benefit three grantees of its Innovation Fund and a project coordinated by the GIGA initiative to connect schools across the world to the Internet.

"This is a new and exciting venture for UNICEF. If digital economies and currencies have the potential to shape the lives of coming generations, it is important that we explore the opportunities they offer. That's why the creation of our Cryptocurrency Fund is a significant and welcome step forward in humanitarian and development work," Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF, said in a statement.

When the charitable organisation receives a cryptocurrency donation, it will not cash it out for a national currency.

Instead, it will hold onto the bitcoin or ether and send the funds to a charitable cause in that same tender.

The launch of the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund is part of the organisation's ongoing work with Blockchain technology.