You can now support the 720,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, simply by opening your web browser.

The HopePage was launched by Unicef Australia on Monday as a new initiative that allows spare computer processing power to be used to mine Monero cryptocurrency.

Users can select how much computer power they are willing to donate to the mining, with no personal information stored during the process.

The longer one stays on the site, the more Monero mined.

The mined cryptocurrency is then converted into real money to be used as part of Unicef’s humanitarian work.

“We wanted to leverage new emerging technologies to raise awareness about current humanitarian crises and raise funds to support children caught up in them,” said Unicef Australia’s Director of Fundraising and Communications, Jennifer Tierney.

“The HopePage allows Australians to provide help and hope to vulnerable children by simply opening the page while they are online.”

The funds generated from the HopePage will go towards water, food, medicine and immunisations for the Rohingya refugees who have fled their homes in Myanmar and are now living in one of the world’s largest refugee camps in Bangladesh.

The HopePage. Source: Unicef Australia

The site is powered by Coinhive’s AuthedMine service.

Coinhive was developed last year to mine Monero and initially did not require consent before running its mining code, meaning users could unknowingly fall victim to ‘cryptojacking’.

Coinhive’s mining code has been found running on a number popular sites, including Google’s DoubleClick, leading some anti-malware software to block it.

AuthedMine is the revised version of Coinhive and requires users to opt-in before running.

Unlike Bitcoin, mining Monero does not require specialised equipment or enormous computing power, meaning an everyday PC or laptop can be used to mine.

While it’s a first for Australia, similar initiatives have proven successful overseas.

Late last year, New York not-for-profit Bronx Freedom fund launched Bail Bloc, a similar initiative, where Monero is mined to raise money for defendants who can’t afford bail.

The site has now generated 23.64 Monero since November, equating to more than $7,800.