For UN related news, please click each organization’s name on the right column.
Selected news articles concerning blockchain technology, other than UN related ones, are also posted here.
Ethereum Blockchain Used By United Nations For Sending Aid to Syria
By Joshua Althauser THE COINTELEGRAPH
The United Nations World Food Programme uses the Ethereum Blockchain to transfer vouchers based on cryptocurrencies to refugees in Syria. The platform was able to transfer cryptocurrency vouchers to a total of 10,000 people. It was done through another platform that was created by Parity Technologies.
Parity Technologies is a startup company led by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood.
“Funds that were sent to the refugees were specifically used for buying food. With the success of this project, the World Food Programme (WFP) plans to extend the project even further to cover 100,000 people in Jordan by late 2018.”
With this, the UN is planning more Blockchain technology-related projects that can help them move aid to disaster-stricken countries even faster. Read more.
UNOPS NY Office Happy Hour
Date: May 24, 2017 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Address: 708 3rd Ave. 14th Floor, New York
(The entrance is on 44th Street between Lex and 3rd Ave.)
We accept cash(USD) or Bitcoin for the purchase of drink !
We need to register your name with the building management for the security purpose. Please fill the following form in advance: https://goo.gl/forms/ZG0FWimwGvUyvkeh1
UNOPS – New York Personnel Association
How Blockchain Could Finally Unite the United Nations
United Nations image via Shutterstock
9 May 2017 CoinDesk
The United Nations is a Swiss army knife of humanitarian aid.
When catastrophe strikes, dozens of agencies within the organization, founded in the aftermath of World War II, lay in wait in offices around the world, each with their own specialized role to alleviate suffering and establish peace.
But with billions of dollars at their disposal and organizational mandates that often overlap, keeping track of who needs what, and getting it to them quickly, is just part of the challenge.
Crucial to ensuring continued support, the agencies must also be able to prove that the taxpayer money donated by its 193 member nations actually accomplished its intended goals – a historically difficult balancing act.
One man, who has spent the last 25 years helping conduct this symphony of services, thinks that much of the difficulty can be alleviated by moving both the dispersal of aid and the internal operations of the UN itself to a blockchain. Read more.
UNODC launches training to tackle cryptocurrency-enabled Organized Crime
UNODC launches training to tackle cryptocurrency-enabled Organized Crime
The original article was posted on the site of United Nations On Drugs and Crime.
8 May 2017 – Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are being increasingly used to move criminal proceeds. In response to this phenomenon, UNODC has developed a world-leading Cryptocurrency Investigation Train-the-Trainers course and delivered, in recent weeks, the first courses on cryptocurrency investigation. Continue reading “UNODC launches training to tackle cryptocurrency-enabled Organized Crime”
K(NO)W IDENTITY CONFERENCE 2017
K(NO)W IDENTITY CONFERENCE 2017, Washington D.C.
May 15 – 17, 2017
May 15, 2017
- Opening Remarks and Keynote “Fireside” Chat with Edward Snowden
- The Challenges of Big Data and Regulatory Compliance
- Identity as a Pillar in the Global Development Agenda: Efforts to Date and Future Directions
- Investing in Identity
- Trends in Identity Management for the Modern Enterprise
- The Business of Identity
- Know Your Self
- National Identity Schemes: Contrasting Different Approaches and Progress
- Implementing Identity for All
- Trusted Digital Identity Networks: A Journey Towards Self-Sovereign Identity
- The [Unexpected] Business of Identity
- International Regulation of Identification in Financial Services: Key Differences and Trends
- Identity Verification: Demographic Challenges
- Lessons Learned from Identity Verification in Emerging Markets
- Who Owns Identity? A Conversation
- But Can You Have It All? Re-inventing the Privacy, Security, and User Experience Tradeoff
- Unlocking Value Through Attributes
- Fireside Chat with Carmi Gillon: Identity and Security
May 16, 2017
- Regulatory and Policy Options to Support Advances in Digital Identity
- The New Ideas in Access Control – Physical and Information Security in our Connected World
- Automate! Automate! Automate!
- Dirty Money in a Digital World: Modernizing Approaches to KYC, AML and Terrorist Financing
- Facilitating e-Commerce in a World Where Everyone is a Merchant
- Creating Tiered Identity Models
- Modern Multi Factor Authentication
- Turning Risk and Compliance into a Competitive Advantage
- Identity, Trust, User Experience, and the Sharing Economy
- Personal Data: An Asset and a Liability
- Identity Interoperability: Driving Collaboration and Standards
- Identity on Blockchains
- Trust Frameworks: Their Critical Role in Governing Identity Systems and Allocating Liability
- Convenience, Security, and The Next Step for Biometrics
- Payments in the Era of the Internet of Everything: Cracking the Identity Challenge
- The Art and Science of Continuous Identity Verification
- Breaking the Identity Theft to Fraud Cycle
- Regulating Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Identity?
May 17, 2017
- Identity and Democracy: A Look at Voter Registration
- Remote Identity Proofing: Opportunities and the Road Ahead
- The Next Step for Identity Professionals: De-weaponizing Identity Systems
- Startup Pitch Stage: BBVA Open Talent Competition Finalists
- The Personal Data Economy
- An Invitation to the Relying Party
- Startup Pitch Stage: BBVA Open Talent Competition Finalists
- It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Synthetic Identity!
Blockchain for the Humanitarian Sector – Future Opportunities
OCHA’s report, Blockchain for the Humanitarian Sector – Future Opportunities – November 2016 has been uploaded in the Resource Section.
World Bank to Support Blockchain Bonds Trial in Kenya
2 May 2017
The World Bank has revealed plans to explore how blockchain technology could help boost Kenya’s financial prospects.
According to a new report, the World Bank is seeking to provide follow-up research to support a mobile phone-based bond issuance dubbed ‘M-Akiba’ through which the African country’s government has so far raised $1.1m.
Kenya’s government plans to sell roughly $47m in similar products, and is reportedly considering how blockchain could improve the issuance process. Read more.
Blockchain Could Expand Central Bank Access, Says Bank of Japan
24 APR 2017
Central banks could allow access to accounts around the clock if they used blockchains or cryptocurrencies, a senior Bank of Japan official speculated last week.
Speaking during a finance forum on 21st April, deputy governor Hiroshi Nakaso touched on the subject of so-called central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, and their potential impact on how people interact with their accounts at a given time.
One proposal is to offer central bank accounts to retail customers through a CBDC (something that officials at the Bank of England have highlighted in the past). In his speech, Nakaso brought up this idea, suggesting that, depending on the degree of adoption, such an arrangement could give account holders continuous access to funds. Read more.
UN Commission: Blockchain Can Help Struggling Banks in Latin America
William Suberg
02 MAY 2017 THE COINTELEGRAPH
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has stated Blockchain could help improve costs in troubled banking sectors.
In a report released at the end of April, the ECLAC, which is a regional commission of the United Nations, said the technology held particular promise in reducing so-called “de-risking” practices among local banks.
De-risking, it says, is the phenomenon witnessed across the developing world in which banks shy away from deals which would cost too much in regulatory maneuvering to fulfill.
“…This technology appears to have the potential to address the problem of de-risking on two fronts,” it said. Read more.
United Nations Thinking Big About Blockchain
Jordan Daniell
29 APR 2017 ETHNews.com
Problems are being solved by a new generation of developers inspired by blockchain tech. While smaller application cases are being considered around the world, the United Nations isn’t waiting for ecosystems to develop. In fact, it is charging hardest at some of the most difficult issues in human history – and their weapon of choice is the blockchain. Read more.