According to The Trump administration plans to rename the U.S. International Development Agency (USAID) as the U.S. Humanitarian Aid (IHA) and introduce it directly under the Secretary of State, in a memo that has been circulated among State Department staff and reviewed by Wired. Documents, which politics First reportedas part of the reorganization, agents state that they will “utilise blockchain technology” as part of the procurement process.
“All distributions are protected and tracked through blockchain technology, providing fundamental improvements in security, transparency and traceability,” reads the memo. “This approach promotes innovation and efficiency among implementation partners, allowing for more flexible and adaptive programming focusing on concrete impacts rather than simply completing activities and inputs.”
This memo does not clarify what this means. For example, if you are covering cash transfers with some kind of cryptocurrency or Stablecoin, or simply using a blockchain ledger to track your aid spending.
This memo comes when USAID staff are trying to understand their future. The agency was an early target of the so-called Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), effectively led by centribian Elon Musk. Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, the State Department placed staff across the agency on administrative leave, significantly reducing the workforce and halted some payments to partner organizations around the world, including those doing life-saving work. Since then a A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Against the dismantling of the agency, however, the memo appears to indicate that the administration has plans to continue its mission to significantly reduce USAID and fold it completely into the State Department.
The blockchain plan caught staff off guard.
Blockchain-based projects have hardly been achieved Large-scale use In the humanitarian sector. Linda Raftree, a consultant who helps humanitarian organisations adopt new technologies, says there’s a reason for this. The incorporation of blockchain technology is often unnecessary.
“It feels like a fake technical solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” she says. “I don’t think I could have found an instance using a blockchain that doesn’t use existing tools.”
Giulio Coppi, a senior humanitarian officer with nonprofit access, who is currently investigating the use of blockchain in humanitarian work, says blockchain technology is effective, but does not offer any obvious advantages over other tools that an organization can use, such as existing payment systems and other database tools. “There’s no proven benefit that it’s cheap or even better,” he says. “The way it is presented is this technological solution approach that has proven again and again that it has not significantly impacted reality.”
However, there have been several successful cases of using blockchain technology in the humanitarian sector. 2022, UNHCR I ran a small pilot Stabcoin will provide cash support to Ukrainians who have been evacuated by the Russian-Ukraine War. There are other pilots Tested in Kenya By the Kenyan Red Cross Association. The International Red Cross Committee, which collaborates with the Kenya team, also helped develop it. Humanitarian Token Solutions (HTS).
