The World Food Programme of the United Nations effectively deployed humanitarian aid to 10,000 Syrian refugees using Ethereum, a blockchain-based crypto currency.
In this massive deployment, unlike earlier mobile money solutions built around smartphones, the personal biometrics (eye scan, fingerprints) were used to verify the beneficiary.
The question then becomes; Will an electronic payment system (global or local) built on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), ie the Blockchain, necessarily require smartphones in order to be efficient and effective in its diffusion and adoption by end-users, especially those in the low-wage earning demographic ? What is the best role for the smartphone is this ecosystem ?
https://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/blockchain-against-hunger-harnessing-technology-support-syrian-refugees
Hi Silburn,
I am currently dedicating a huge part of my time to blockchain solutions development on the financial sector.
Regarding your question, in my view the answer is yes. But not because these phones are going to be the nodes of a blockchain, as some people may be thinking.
The key point here is that you need a wallet to receive and send the money. And if you are a refugee, or even on the case of people living in poor communities, maybe the only way to access to your wallet is through a cell phone app. Unfortunately, for different reasons those people are unbanked probably do not have another choice but to use their cell phones.
So that is why the phone is a key variable in the process.
But you could say the same for non blockchain financial payments alternatives. Even in a pure traditional digital cash transfer system, if you want to serve people in poor communities or even refugees, the best tool for doing it is to make use of cell phone apps to deliver the money. The analysis of digital payments alternatives to serve unbanked people always center around the use of cell phnes capabilites.
You could see some very good research in www.betterthancash.org, or in the https://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Financial-Services-for-the-Poor
Best
Carlos
Carlos,
Appreciate the insights
Essentially we could abstract four dimensions
a) wallet location: the wallet and its value-content resides digitally in the cloud
b) wallet access: a great use case for the interface between the wallet and the user is the smartphone. so too would be a tablet or desktop.
c) cash-out: for purchasing at supported merchant locations, the merchant would necessarily require a device that enables interfacing between the user, the merchant and the value that is stored in the wallet. here a merchant Point of Sale device would appear more efficient
d) cash-in: delivered digitally directly into the user's wallet
silburn
Dear colleague,
Please refer to these papers....
I hope they help.
regards
Article Impact of Blockchain Technology on the Payment Management Sy...
Article Exploratory Analysis of Blockchain Application in Trade Finance
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