A New Model for Sustainable Connectivity
Imagine many people collectively staking their Ethereum and donating just the rewards to Giga to support connectivity for hundreds or even thousands of schools, without touching their original assets.
That’s the concept behind Giga’s newly launched Ethereum staking initiative, a cutting-edge example of crypto-driven philanthropy, in which Ethereum staking can promote long-term social impact.
The new initiative comes on the strength of Giga’s successful pilot project in Rwanda. In collaboration with the Rwandan government, Giga established a proof of concept for new financing models in education by demonstrating that a one-time crypto donation could turn into a sustained funding stream.
The Ethereum staking initiative represents a new chapter in Giga’s effort to connect every school to the internet. This blog post will explain how it works, how you can get involved and why we believe it’s a potential game-changer for financing our mission.
From Pilot to Platform: Building on Rwanda’s Success
By the end of the Rwandan pilot, held from mid-2022 through 2024, about $5,600 in internet service fees had been covered by the Ethereum staking rewards, enough to provide one school with reliable connectivity. The question became: How do we scale this? The answer: Rather than rely on a single donor’s stake, in this case the original 32 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation, Giga’s new connectivity funding platform allows any ETH holder to contribute to the cause. Meanwhile, the original 32 ETH is now part of this broader staking pool and will keep generating yield for schools.
In Rwanda, we were limited to what one validator’s rewards could fund. With the new staking program, what was a single stream can now become a river of recurring micro donations. Built on the same mechanism as the pilot, the approach is grounded in data and experience. We know it works; now we’re making it work for more schools and in more countries.
By connecting the dots between crypto investors and unconnected schools, we’re creating a virtuous cycle where every block minted on Ethereum can help a child access online learning and digital skills.
How the Staking Initiative Works
Giga’s staking initiative is designed to be simple and user-friendly, even if you’re new to staking. Participants do not actually send their ETH to Giga as a donation; instead, they stake their ETH (through our platform using Lido’s liquid staking technology) and redirect the staking rewards to Giga. We’re leveraging a well-tested platform to ensure participant safety — Lido is the largest liquidstaking provider. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of the process:
- Stake Your ETH: You deposit any amount of Ether into Giga’s impact staking pool. (There’s no 32 ETH minimum in this setup. Thanks to Lido’s pooled liquid staking, even 0.1 ETH can participate. Your ETH is staked on the Ethereum network, helping to secure it just like any other staker.
- Earn Staking Rewards: As time goes on, your staked ETH earns rewards in the form of new ETH (this typically accrues at an annual rate of around 3–5%, though it can vary). Normally, a solo staker would keep these rewards. In our model, the rewards accumulate in a transparent pool.
- Donate Your Yield: You choose to donate a percentage or all of the staking rewards to Giga’s connectivity fund. The arrangement, called a smart contract, directs that percentage of your earned ETH directly to Giga’s wallet for school connectivity. Meanwhile, if you choose to keep a portion, those remain claimable by you.
- Retain Your Principal: The original ETH you staked remains yours. This is a key feature: You retain ownership of your principal at all times. You can unstake and withdraw your ETH whenever you wish, subject to Ethereum’s normal unstaking queue. In other words, you’re not giving away your ETH itself – just the yield it generates. Your contribution is effectively the “opportunity cost” of foregoing all or partial interest, rather than a one-time loss of assets.
- Funds from staking rewards will be off-ramped on a quarterly basis and added to Giga’s pooled fund in support of school connectivity initiatives worldwide. This model allows for sustained financing across multiple projects rather than limiting it to one region.
- Track the Impact: All contributions are recorded on-chain, so you can monitor how much funding is being generated for Giga and its impact globally.
Why Participate in Impact Staking for Giga?
For crypto holders, Giga’s staking initiative is at the leading edge of a new approach to sustainable funding for social impact, aligning with the ethos of decentralization and empowerment. Here are a few reasons why this approach can be a game-changer for charitable giving:
- No Need to Spend Your Principal: Traditionally, donating meant parting with your money or crypto. With this platform, only the staking yield (which is essentially new value created by the network) is donated. It’s a way to contribute that makes financial sense for long-term holders of crypto.
- Continuous, Sustainable Funding: Unlike one-off donations, staked donations are ongoing – every day your ETH is staked, it’s earning a bit more for the cause. This creates a more sustainable and reliable funding stream for Giga’s work, allowing for more forward planning.
- On-Chain Transparency and Trust: All transactions in the staking initiative happen on the Ethereum blockchain, which means full transparency. Donors can verify that their rewards were correctly allocated to Giga, and they can see the overall impact on our dashboard. It’s a radical shift from traditional charity models where you donate and then hope the money is used well.
- Innovative yet Secure: The staking is done via Lido, which means your staked ETH is represented by stETH (staked Ether tokens) and remains liquid. Our implementation is built with guidance from blockchain experts and has undergone the necessary audits and compliance checks. Moreover, UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein – one of our key allies– acts as our institutional partner. This is cutting-edge crypto impact investing with the backing of reputable organizations.
- Making Idle Assets Meaningful: There is a lot of idle crypto out there – millions of ETH sitting in wallets or exchanges. By joining our initiative, those not ready to part with their crypto (or waiting for the right price to sell) can commit all or part of the yield that crypto generates to help children gain access to online learning. It’s a form of micro-giving at scale, made possible by the efficiency of blockchain. Even if you’re not a crypto whale, when thousands of regular holders participate, the combined impact becomes huge.
In essence, Giga’s staking initiative aligns incentives for crypto enthusiasts and humanitarian goals. Your crypto investment remains intact and growing, while a portion of its growth fuels a social investment in the next generation. This is what some are calling Impact Investing 2.0, and we’re thrilled to be at the forefront of this movement.
Partners Supporting the Initiative
Located at the crossroads of the humanitarian sector and the crypto industry, Giga’s Ethereum staking initiative is built on collaboration from the two fields. Moreover, Giga’s connectivity expertise itself draws on the partnership between UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for digital technologies.
- UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein – Our anchor partner, this UNICEF National Committee is providing support on fundraising and donor outreach to ensure that the initiative aligns with UNICEF’s stringent standards. It bridges the gap between the crypto community and the institutional education sector. (Learn more about UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein’s work here.)
- Launchnodes – A strategic partner of UNICEF Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Launchnodes is the designer and operator of Lido’s liquid staking technology. A leading Ethereum staking infrastructure provider, it has been with us since the Rwanda pilot’s inception. (Visit Launchnodes to see their other projects.)
Along with these key partnerships, we are also engaging with other organizations and stakeholders – from Ethereum researchers to impact investors – to continuously improve and grow the platform.
Stake Your ETH, Empower a School
Giga’s impact staking initiative is now live, and we invite you to be a part of it. By dedicating your staking rewards to Giga, you’ll be funding things like a school’s monthly internet bill, a new router for a remote classroom or a solar-powered broadband connection for an off-grid school. Every bit of bandwidth provided can open up worlds of information for children and teachers – enabling everything from digital textbooks to remote teacher training and beyond. How to get involved? If you’re an ETH holder, try staking with us. If you’re a blockchain project or company, consider partnering or promoting our mission. And if you’re entirely new to crypto but care about connecting schools, reach out – we can help you get started with a small stake to test the waters.
Visit our impact staking platform page and connect your wallet. You’ll be guided through the simple process to start staking and choosing your donation percentage. You can also see on the dashboard how much impact the community has generated so far (in terms of ETH staked and rewards donated). Whether you stake 1 ETH or 0.01 ETH, your contribution is valuable – the Ethereum network will do the work of aggregating everyone’s small contributions into a powerful stream of funding. If you have any questions, please email us at giga@unicef.org and we’ll help you get started. We believe impact staking is for everyone, not just crypto experts. Even institutions or companies holding ETH can participate and fulfill their social responsibility goals in a fresh way.
By launching this platform, Giga is sending a message: innovative financing models are here to stay. We will continue exploring and scaling approaches like this, whether through Ethereum staking, social impact NFTs, or other blockchain-based tools that can unlock capital for connectivity. We invite you to join us on this journey.