Aid groups use blockchain to ensure help reaches intended recipients

David Beasley, the new executive director of the World Food Programme, which has been using blockchain to keep a record of transactions, is making sure recipients get their goods without added costs.

In the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, Amar Al-Eid heads toward the checkout of the food distribution store carrying supplies for his two children. The shopkeeper raises a black box to his face and scans the Syrian refugee’s iris. The transaction goes through and a day’s rations are secured.

The data technology that underpins virtual currencies like Bitcoin is now also used to deliver aid more efficiently by dramatically lowering the risk of bribes and fraud by local officials – a huge, long standing problem in the industry.