A similar initiative, known as an “airdrop,” is
being developed by AirTM, a currency exchange
platform based in Mexico City that plans to
donate small amounts of cryptocurrency to
100,000 people in Venezuela this summer. So far,
it has raised $300,000 from donations toward its
$1 million goal.
The one-time payment of no more than $10 a
person will provide only momentary relief. But
the goal is also to encourage Venezuelans to
engage with the AirTM platform.
“We want to show Venezuelans how to hold money
outside their local currency,” said Joshua Kliot, the
organization’s co-founder. “The biggest impact
this could have is to crypto-ize the country.”
And it’s not just in Venezuela where nonprofits
are attempting to help vulnerable people by
introducing them to digital currency platforms.
In Europe, Bitnation, a humanitarian agency,
has enabled hundreds of refugees without
bank accounts to receive direct donations
through bitcoin accounts. In Jordan the World
Food Program delivers aid to 100,000 Syrian
refugees by creating digital currency accounts
for each recipient, using blockchain technology
but official currencies. To pay for goods,
refugees only need to have their iris scanned in
participating stores.
Paul Lamb, a nonprofit management consultant
based in California, says the idea of distributing
funding directly to people in need is becoming
increasingly popular among humanitarian
groups, because in some contexts it is
cheaper than organizing the logistics required
to physically hand out food or medicine.