The last year has shown how technology has helped undermine democracy. But tech can also be used to fight power and bolster equality, according to the coalition behind a new tool called Bail Bloc.

Bail Bloc is an app that gives people the option to donate their excess computing power to mine a cryptocurrency called Monero. The amount of Monero that's generated is then converted into U.S. dollars and donated to a nonprofit bail fund called the Bail Project, an offshoot of the Bronx Freedom Fund that pays bail for low-income people awaiting trial. The only work participants have to do is to download the Bail Bloc application; everything else happens in the background.

Bail tends to keep lower-income people in jail while they await their court date, and is often used to intimidate them into making guilty pleas–in fact, 90% of people who can't afford to pay bail end up pleading guilty in New York. The Bail Project is the Bronx Freedom Fund's attempt to take their bail fund model nationwide, aiming to provide immediate relief to people who can't afford bail in more than three dozen cities over the next five years–while also exposing just how flawed the system is.