Transparency Is Not the Last Mile.

Last week, an event occurred in the crypto space which has relevance to anyone interested in aid (Cryptonomist). On October 28th, Tether, the issuer of the most traded stable coin in the world, along with Kraken, Chainalysis, and the Solana Foundation, among others, launched FASE – a Swiss-based non-profit. In its first action, FASE initiated a pilot programme in conjunction with Prosper Global (the former Mercy Corps) for delivering humanitarian assistance via stablecoins to reach up to one million individuals. That is significant.

As large sums of money begin to flow down crypto rails to support humanitarian causes, that signals to me that the question has evolved. Instead of asking "Can Blockchain Be Used For Good?", the more relevant question now is "How Well Will It Actually Work When It Is Applied To Real People?" And that is exactly the question I am looking to answer sincerely, since I have been working towards answering that very question for six years on the other side of it.

Everyone always states this promise, and it is legitimate. Stablecoins allow for moving value around the globe in seconds at minimal costs, with each transaction tracked by an open ledger. That is truly valuable to aid workers - fewer intermediaries, less loss during transfer, and a publicly auditable history. I believe in that promise. WellsForAll has funded 26 community boreholes in Ghana via blockchain, and having the on-chain record is part of why communities continue to trust us.

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However, I have come to understand that there is a difference between a transaction being visible on a blockchain versus a transaction being transformational. While a blockchain can certainly document with certainty that $x left wallet A and ended up in wallet B, it cannot document whether or not that money turned into a child drinking from a cup of clean water today, a functioning pump next year, or if their lives have improved in some manner. Where the actual aid work happens is where the blockchain's data stops.

The area of aid success or quiet failure - and where I've personally experienced this - is the distance between the last transaction on a blockchain and the last mile of delivery. Funds are transferred perfectly, yet projects fail because no one conducted proper surveys before starting, committees are not trained to manage them, or plans do not exist for the inevitable day when the pump breaks. The blockchain will provide documentation of money being perfectly sent, while showing a community still getting water from a nearby river. Simply put, transparency alone does not solve this problem.

Therefore, my sincere hopes for FASE and similar pilot programmes such as theirs are this: that they evaluate themselves based upon what actually changed on the ground – and not simply based upon how much money was moved or how many wallets were affected. They need to include in their measurement process the aspects of aid, local presence, people speaking the languages of the areas involved, and follow-up after several months to verify the items delivered still function. While one million people is a worthy goal to pursue – it is merely a goal – and goals are quite different than results – and that chasm between these two terms represents the totality of our jobs.

This is the vantage point from the last mile – and it is the standard we judge ourselves against, one borehole at a time. If cryptocurrency is going to support the next generations of aid efforts – and I think it will – then we must ensure that the transparency continues to reach all the way to the person holding the cup, not just the person holding the wallet. We do not simply want records to be clear. We want the water itself to be clear.