UNICEF has invested in a South African blockchain startup

[XCoinCall]

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has invested in a South African blockchain startup as part of a broader technology innovation push.

http://www.coindesk.com/unicef-just-invested-first-blockchain-startup/#

What's you opinion on this?

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[franky1]

unicef gives money to african company https://9needs.net
african company gives money to a company http://consent.global/our-team

consent.global are using a blockchain that is part of the hyperledger(banker blockchain), but used for identity, not "value"

nothing bitcoin related.. moving on

[amacar2]

I think knowing what actually is 9needs which get this fund will be nice
Taken from their page here http://9needs.net/startups/

Amplifying the benefits of socio-economic development.

Amply is using blockchain technology to improve Early Childhood Development (ECD) services in South Africa. Using blockchain infrastructure and smart contracts, we prototyped a system that will help strengthen the current registration, contracting, information and management systems. With investment from the Innovation Fund, we will carry out a field test as well as add additional features to their technology. Over the 12-month investment period, we aim to enrol 50 ECD centres to actively use the platform, which will include using online digital registries to record identities of child beneficiaries and service providers. Blockchain will be used to record data exchange transactions and service attendance, and issuing and redeeming of vouchers will be done digitally.

What they are trying to do seem related to blockchain and not to bitcoin nor gonna help bitcoin's growth.

[Kprawn]

unicef gives money to african company https://9needs.net
african company gives money to a company http://consent.global/our-team

consent.global are using a blockchain that is part of the hyperledger(banker blockchain), but used for identity, not "value"

nothing bitcoin related.. moving on

Let's be a bit more optimistic, Franky1  They did say, “I believe that there is a very near future where we will be using blockchain, the

bitcoin blockchain maybe, other distributed ledgers, to do central operational tasks,” ... I think they might be testing the water to see

what technology will take off and which technology will suit their needs.  .... I hope they chose Bitcoin.

[franky1]

unicef gives money to african company https://9needs.net
african company gives money to a company http://consent.global/our-team

consent.global are using a blockchain that is part of the hyperledger(banker blockchain), but used for identity, not "value"

nothing bitcoin related.. moving on

Let's be a bit more optimistic, Franky1   They did say, “I believe that there is a very near future where we will be using blockchain, the
bitcoin blockchain maybe, other distributed ledgers, to do central operational tasks,” ... I think they might be testing the water to see
what technology will take off and which technology will suit their needs.   .... I hope they chose Bitcoin.

9needs are in the need of medical/identity databases, not a funding platform.
they obviously have a banking partner (barclays africa) so bank accounts and international funding is not the issue. their needs are about medical and identity.

as for bitcoin africa.. 7cents in america.. is worth alot of sweat and tears in africa.. bitcoin has priced itself out of third world countries already due to the transaction fee alone being a barrier of entry to bitcoin.

as for africa's financial need
mpesa is cheaper
mpesa is more user friendly
mpesa is more accessible
bitcoin has become something that is no longer better than the old africa fiat system or current mpesa system. dont expect much bitcoin action in africa.

its why hyperledger (sidechains/LN) is the bait and switch for the african unbanked. just a shame that it will not settle back to bitcoin, but instead divert to hyperledger for the third world users.
ofcourse africa needs blockchain ID.. how else will a future cheap hyperledger do its KYC checks

i am optimistic about bitcoin. i am just a realist and aware of the adversaries to bitcoin.
i dont just sit back and take one for the team(blockstream) and have "hope" the team will rain their silky "liquid"(another blockstream alt) over us to give bitcoin more utility.

too many people sit on their hand and let bitcoin lose its ethos and lose its open nature and freedom of use/innovation, waiting for something inspiring to happen

[clickerz]

unicef gives money to african company https://9needs.net
african company gives money to a company http://consent.global/our-team

consent.global are using a blockchain that is part of the hyperledger(banker blockchain), but used for identity, not "value"

nothing bitcoin related.. moving on

Meaning it is only as an application of blockchain fot identification. Just like labeling them on the blackchaion? There are already many application of blockchain ranging from medicine,transportation,business and banks.It is good that it is being utilized.

[franky1]

unicef gives money to african company https://9needs.net
african company gives money to a company http://consent.global/our-team

consent.global are using a blockchain that is part of the hyperledger(banker blockchain), but used for identity, not "value"

nothing bitcoin related.. moving on

Meaning it is only as an application of blockchain fot identification. Just like labeling them on the blackchaion? There are already many application of blockchain ranging from medicine,transportation,business and banks.It is good that it is being utilized.

not really..
blockchain is not a top notch security thing alone.. in short its just the same as "table relationships" in terms of the old database mechanisms.
most of the blockchains are not using strong hashing algo to secure the blocks(tables) they are not using PoW either.
nor will they be fully public or distributed openly.

its just an excuse to have tax rightoffs to appear up to date. much like updating a company logo every 10 years.
from a users point of view not much will change.

after all if it was near impossible to get a doctor to sign a piece of paper to certify birth in certain places in africa.. being digital wont change the real world problem. something still needs signed whether paper or digital. so these services still have the real world problem that simple paper could not solve. because paper or computer was not the problem.. going digital has only removed the need of paper, but not solved why paper certification failed.(hint remote villages/home births where doctors are not readily available).

[rajasumi3]

I think its a promotion of bitcoins on a global basis and wants to make a profit out of it .and more the popular bitcoins more it will profitable for everyone and slowly slowly it will be accepted as global currency.

[merchantofzeny]

I'm a newbie to bitcoin so I only have a vague understanding of blockchain but I agree with comments here that btc has become to big for Africa. I live in the Philippines and even here you'd sweat blood first before you can buy 1btc. If there's one good thing that might come out of this, it would be having UNICEF's name somehow lending an air of credibility. Public adoption might somehow increase as they start to see btc in a more positive light.

Still can't beat btc when it comes to sending aid though. It is still way cheaper than traditional methods of money transfer. Again I don't know how it is in Africa but in my country there are areas where banks rebate the cash out fee, meaning the only fee you'd have to pay would be the fee for the wallet provider.

[BingoDog]

Another proof that blockchain technology is more and more beeing used for wider sense then only related to bitcoin. So the fact that UNICEF is showing interested and supporting blockchain doesn't necessary mean that this has anything to do with supporting bitcoin. These two things doesn't have to be mixed up.