The latest blockchain news on our DC Forecasts crypto news site shows that two of the United Nation’s wings are joining hands with the government of Sierra Leone in order to build a blockchain-based ID system for the 7 million people living in the country.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNDCF) are the two wings that entered into a partnership with Kiva, a technology nonprofit company which will lend its protocol to implement the ID system called “Credit Bureau Of The Future.”
According to reports, the new system will allow the citizens of Sierra Leone to have complete and secure ownership of their identities, just like the blockchain assets in a decentralized network such as the one focused on Bitcoin.
What’s interesting is the fact that Kiva was working without a blockchain for over 13 years – and even without it – managed to crowdfund more than $1.2 billion in loans for people in more than 80 countries. The Kiva protocol is what made the crowdfunding successful – known as the next step into the direction of enabling advanced banking access to the unbanked, starting with Sierra Leone which is in a dire need for an innovation like this.
As the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNCDF recently stated:
“Through this implementation, Sierra Leone is setting out to build one of the most advanced, secure credit bureaus. It could serve as a model for both developing and developed nations in the future and has the potential to change the landscape of financial inclusion radically.”
Currently, 80% of Sierra Leone’s citizens have no access to a formal identification system like this, which is why this initiative is popular. The government of the country, in its earlier efforts, has launched a Credit Reference Bureau.
However, that bureau alone could not contribute to the financial inclusion of people that have zero credit history. A blockchain system like Kiva’s would, in this case, improve things on the ground and grant underbanked and unbanked people with a digital identity of their own.
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