The United Nations World Food Program successfully used the Ethereum blockchain to provide aid to 10,000 refugees

One of the largest-ever charitable use cases for the Ethereum blockchain has just concluded a successful trial.

The trial, which officially concluded on May 31, aims to provide resources to thousands of Syrian refugees by offering cryptocurrency-based vouchers that can be redeemed on participating marketplaces.

Exclusively revealed to CoinDesk, the platform has been successfully used to record and verify transfers between 10,000 individuals. The platform was implemented by Parity Technologies, a startup led by ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and blockchain big data company Datarella.

Alexandra Alden, an advisor to the World Food Programme’s (WFP) innovation accelerator who oversaw the implementation, told CoinDesk:

“All the money the refugees received from WFP was earmarked for food, such as olive oil, noodles and lentils.”

The World Food Programme is collecting more detailed analytical information, such as how many transactions were carried out.

Expand the project

As reported in early May, WFP intends to expand the program to accommodate 100,000 individuals in Jordan as early as August of this year. If all goes as planned, the effort is expected to cover the entire Jordanian refugee population by the end of 2018.

Alden has now confirmed to CoinDesk that the agency eventually hopes to implement the service in other regions outside of Jordan.

She explained:

“Our plan is to first expand the project across Jordan, but we are also evaluating use cases and potential applications in other regions.”

Alden said the agency is currently in dialogue with partners in the humanitarian and private sectors who can help the UN achieve its zero hunger goal by 2030.

Notably, since the Jordanian project was revealed, the United Nations has announced a wide range of blockchain projects that are currently being studied by other UN agencies.