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As development budgets tighten, donors, NGOs, and implementing partners alike are all grappling with an increasingly urgent question: How do you move money efficiently and securely to people who need it most — especially in complex or hard-to-reach environments, where traditional banking fails?
One technology that’s gaining traction in this space is blockchain. “The speed, the efficiency, the transparency, and the ability to pay people very directly … [blockchain] is this very powerful technology in a crisis area,” said Candace Kelly, chief legal and policy officer at Stellar Development Foundation, whose mission is to create equitable access to the global financial system. Kelly joined Devex Executive Editor Kate Warren for a podcast recording at Casa Devex, Devex’s events hub during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla, Spain.
The results are compelling. In Ukraine, the UN Refugee Agency has used SDF’s platform to disburse over $5 million to 2,500 families through blockchain-based digital wallets, while GIZ uses the technology to ensure front-line workers in conflict zones get paid on time. Transaction costs have dropped to pennies per 10,000 transfers, while efficiency gains also stem from cutting out "a lot of frankly unnecessary intermediaries that slow things down and increase the costs," Kelly explained.
The technology’s transparency features also address donor concerns about whether contributions actually reach intended beneficiaries. “If you donate and it’s all done on blockchain, it’s a transparent and immutable. You cannot tamper with a blockchain ledger, and so you can see where did this money go,” Kelly said.
This special episode of This week in global development is sponsored by Stellar Development Foundation.
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