Jesse Gartner, Oxfam's cash transfer coordinator in Vanuatu, said the program pointed to the vast potential of blockchain technology in the Pacific.
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So there's a lot of need for products like these," said Tristan Cole, the co-founder of Sempo who helped design the program. "There is a lot of lack of access in the Pacific right now, there's a high unbanked population. The team behind the project say it is revolutionary because, thanks to blockchain, cardholders don't need a bank account to receive donations. Oxfam's blockchain project would go on to register 35,000 people in the Pacific region and has given more than $US2 million ($2.7 million) to participants.Īround 25 per cent of people in Vanuatu use the internet, which is needed for many blockchain technologies. Don't need a bank account to receive donations Over the past five years, international NGOs, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Pacific governments and local programmers have developed world-first blockchain projects in the region.īut critics fear the Pacific region is being used as a testing ground for experimental technology. Oxfam isn't alone in testing blockchain projects in the Pacific - a region which has some of the poorest internet connectivity in the world.
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The money was loaded onto tap-and-pay cards each month, which individuals could use in participating stores. Not everyone who attended the training understood how blockchain or cryptocurrency worked, but many were keen to sign up to receive 10,000 Vatu ($122) in digital cash. The system promised to "revolutionise humanitarian aid" by using a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar - also called a stablecoin - to send money from donors directly to tap-and-pay cards given to participants.
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A team from Melbourne start-up Sempo, along with members of NGO Oxfam, were training villagers and vendors how to use Unblocked Cash, a pilot project funded in part by the Australian government.