UN Using Ethereum Blockchain and Iris Scanning Technologies to Distribute Funds to Refugees
May 1st, 2017Via: CoinDesk:
Starting today, the United Nations (UN) will begin distributing funds to thousands of people in Jordan as part of a trial using the ethereum blockchain.
For the next month, cryptographically unique coupons representing an undisclosed number of Jordanian dinars will be sent to dozens of shops in five refugee camps across the nation. Then, instead of using a smartphone or a paper wallet to access to the funds, recipients will rely on yet another emerging technology.
Eye-scanning hardware made by London-based IrisGuard, already in place to verify the identity of some of the 500,000 recipients currently receiving traditional aid, is being repurposed to grant access to coupons.
Multiple cashiers at each of the shops will then use technology co-developed by the UN Innovation Accelerator, ethereum development startup Parity Technologies and blockchain big data firm Datarella to redeem the entitlements at the point of checkout.
From the ground up, the solution was designed to scale, not just within Jordan, but beyond its borders to some of the 80 other countries served by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).
Research Credit: RB
On a whim, went to see a Marvel film last night. None of the normal local or national cinema ads were playing for this demographic. Along with a trailer for ‘The Mummy’ (“…a new world of gods and monsters”), the only commercials were high-budget affairs for a waterproof VISA ‘card’ bracelet and VISA paywave systems, Volvo’s new semi-autonomous car, and something promoting fiber optic/wireless connection and a future in which info transfer will be instantaneous, thus enabling supply-chain decisions to be made automatically, and our cars will be “driven by the network”. An interesting foretaste of the zeitgeist to come.