Bitspark Embarks on Blockchain Remittance Trial with UN in Tajikistan

Bitspark has revealed is working with the United Nations Development Programme on a trial aimed to build financial inclusion in Tajikistan.

Jun 27, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 11, 2021 at 1:29 p.m. UTC

Blockchain startup Bitspark has revealed it is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a trial focused on promoting financial inclusion in Tajikistan.

The Hong Kong-based remittance vendor outlined the new project in a recent blog post, stating how it aims to enable regional labor migrants to leverage the potential benefits of blockchain technology.

As outlined in the post, Bitspark hopes to build off previous UNDP efforts in Tajikistan, while helping to serve the 85% to 90% of the population without formal banking accounts.

Given these figures, Bitspark and the UNDP are proposing a pilot that would enable migrant works and their families to send and receive payments via smartphone devices.

"People are familiar to sending and receiving cash and this proposal seeks to streamline that process ... Instead of calling a taxi and handing over a bag of cash ... Bitspark's digital payments app Sendy [can be used] for instant, verifiable, trustless payments cash in cash out," the post reads.

For the UNDP, the proposal finds it building off efforts to use blockchain to better distribute aid to refugees, while embarking on a broader effort to find possible ways to improve UN operations with distributed ledger technologies.

Noting this mission, Bitspark concluded:

"The application of new financial technologies like blockchain can assist in increasing the number of people with access to the financial system at less cost and at a scale necessary to make an impact and ultimately improving economic opportunities for people in Tajikistan and around the world."

Tajikistan image via Shutterstock

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