The Cardano Foundation is delighted to announce a partnership with Switzerland for UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), the national associate of the UN Refugee Agency in Switzerland. As part of this collaboration, a stake pool will be launched by Switzerland for UNHCR, and the Cardano Foundation will delegate 3.5 million ada, the native token of Cardano’s blockchain network. The stake pool will be operated by Taurus, a Swiss-based provider of digital asset infrastructure.
Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation commented: “This alliance with Switzerland for UNHCR perfectly exemplifies our philosophy.”
The second Cardano Foundation Annual Global Impact Challenge will allocate 80% of its stake pool rewards to Switzerland for UNHCR’s programs that aid forcibly displaced people, with the remaining 20% going to the organization’s innovation projects. This initiative is in line with the Foundation’s goal of utilizing blockchain technology to produce beneficial effects. This builds on the success of their first challenge, a partnership with veritree that saw Cardano community members contribute towards planting one million trees in Kenya.
The Challenges are a way for the international Cardano ecosystem to come together and demonstrate blockchain technology’s usefulness while helping those in need.
At the Cardano Summit 2022, the biggest ever in-person gathering of the Cardano community, the Impact Challenge was introduced. Held from November 19 to 21, it featured a main stage event in Lausanne, a virtual Summit Lodge and fifty locally organized activities. Attendees could attend panels and speeches about utilizing Cardano. To back this Global Impact Challenge, the Cardano Foundation will form its own wallet which is distinct from their existing delegation system. The Foundation’s ada will be redistributed across its forty-five existing wallet addresses and an extra one will be created for UNHCR’s stake pool.
From now on, this wallet will be employed to commit stake towards projects that encourage the widespread adoption of Cardano.
Lamine Brahimi, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Taurus – a global giant in enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure that holds a major part in bringing forth the 2022 Global Impact Challenge – shared: “Distributed ledger technology (DLT) allows non-profit organizations to find novel and legal methods to raise funds with the help of delegated proof of stake. Taurus has extensive expertise running DLT infrastructure and staking pools on multiple blockchains. We are truly delighted to be part of this collaboration which will provide direct aid for people who have been forced out of their homes around the world.’ Hovig Etyemezian, Head of Innovation at UNHCR, concluded: “The tech industry has an essential role in helping humanitarian agencies innovate so they can offer assistance more effectively.” At a point in history when more individuals have been displaced than ever before, the Cardano Foundation and Switzerland for UNHCR, which is our Swiss partner, have come together to demonstrate how technology can be a positive influence and give strength to the most destitute. I am excited to observe how this joint venture can activate the blockchain society in assistance of those forced into exile.
