en
Back to the list

The UN Is Ready to Cooperate With The Digital Market Player

27 September 2018 12:37, UTC
Oleg Koldayev

Companies working with virtual assets clearly underestimated the international humanitarian programs until recently. Frankly speaking, the digital market has always been the fiefdom of cynical and pragmatic people who do not suffer from excessive empathy. Ripple still holds the record of donations. The company spent $29 million to equip classrooms in US schools. This money was enough to purchase property and stationary for 3000 offices in 50 states. The rest was spent on every little thing.

As a comparison, one of the leaders of the fiat economy, the investor Warren BUFFETT transferred $3.4 billion to his own humanitarian fund Berkshire Hathaway in November last year. At the same time, BUFFETT’s wealth is estimated at $76.3 billion and the financial opportunities of Ripple, for example - at $22 billion. That is, the difference between the assets is 3.4 times, but the company spent 127.5 times less. A poor ratio. Perhaps now the digital headliners will have a reason to show themselves.

The next social initiative of the United Nations that saw the light after the General Assembly in 2015 defineding 17 goals of human development. Among them are: fighting poverty, eliminating hunger, preventing climate change, responsible production and consumption, as well as industrialization, innovation, and infrastructure. According to the plan, they must be achieved by 2030.

The "Goals of Sustainable Development" program appeared more than three years ago, but virtual coins came into play only now. The level of credibility in the digital financial system has certainly grown. But, however, this is not the first global humanitarian project using virtual financial technologies.

In January 2017, the World Food Program (WFP) used the DLT-platform to fund the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Pakistani people affected by natural disasters. At the same time, the global humanitarian mission tested a digital protocol for the transfer of money to help Syrian refugees on the territory of Jordan. Within a month, more than 10 thousand people received the necessary help. At the same time, the organization found that it had saved at least $150,000 on transactions since the bank commission for transferring funds in a traditional way to a zone with an unstable military and political situation was 98%!

"We feel that we will be able to replace the usual services with that offered by blockchain-based banks," Robert OPP, the director of WFP said at that moment. "The new technology allows us to process a huge amount of data and develop cooperation."

By the way, the director noted that the budget of the organization was $6 billion currently. In addition, WFP provides food vouchers for another $1.4 year. But he also stressed that financial and logistical flows using a distributed ledger could and should be implemented in other areas of humanitarian activity. "The full potential of the blockchain can be realized only if all organizations will work on this platform," Robert OPP emphasized.

His words seemed to have been heard; the representatives of the French branch of UNICEF expressed a wish to accept donations in virtual coins. And, not only directly. In February 2018, the United Nations Children's Fund launched the Claymore program, which aimed to raise funds for children affected by the war in Syria. Everyone could download a special application for mining digital currency units on the organization's website, which then automatically funded the organization's electronic wallet. According to public figures, it was possible to obtain only 85 coins at $900 this way.

In July this year, Binance Exchange transferred $1 million to the international assistance program for flood victims in Japan. Although, for the sake of justice, it should be noted that this year the operator of virtual assets plans to earn $1 billion.

Many comparisons tell against the social position of digital companies. Although it will be fair to notice that slowly and surely representatives of the new economy overcome immanent sociopathy (the industry was created by enthusiasts who are not usually prone to communicate and participate) and join the global humanitarian initiatives. These are small but important steps to overcome the lack of trust between traditional global socio-political formations and the digital business community. Perhaps a socially responsible business will cause greater credibility in state structures and, in particular, regulators. But this is not the main thing. Over time, virtual financial institutions will be able to overcome exclusion and become a familiar part of everyday life. And then, the authorities will simply have nowhere to go, and they will have to accept a new economic reality, as force majeure circumstances.