Today, the Algorand Foundation announced a strategic investment by Algorand Ventures in HesabPay. The news was unveiled on stage at the Algorand Impact Summit in New Delhi, where business leaders, policymakers, NGOs, and developers convened to discuss how blockchain can be part of the solution to the world’s most intractable challenges.
HesabPay claims to be the first and only interoperable digital payments platform in Afghanistan. It utilizes the Algorand blockchain. Initially built as a solution to the humanitarian aid crisis, more than a dozen organizations, including the World Food Programme, have used the platform to send funds directly to beneficiaries in Afghanistan. HesabPay has since expanded its use cases and now allows users to buy airtime, pay electric bills, and send digital funds to other users. HesabPay has facilitated 51,000 humanitarian cash transfers and has been used to pay more than 1.3 million electricity bills.
HesabPay is described as a critical tool for Afghanistan, where, according to the World Bank, 85% of the adult population is unbanked. A recent study by the London School of Economics trailed nearly 2,500 Afghan women receiving aid via HesabPay and found that “digital payments can be an effective and transparent way of helping those most in need.” The study found that more than 98% of the money transferred digitally was spent as local purchases in the first eight weeks, with the women surveyed reporting skipping fewer meals and eating a more nutritionally diverse diet both while receiving the payments and for several weeks afterward.
“In the case of HesabPay, it was apparent to us from the beginning that the solution they are offering was critical for some of the world’s most marginalized populations,” said Matt Keller, head of impact and inclusion at Algorand Foundation. “It is only fitting that we announced this investment at the Algorand Impact Summit, demonstrating how blockchain can serve as an efficient, reliable, and transparent solution for the global unbanked.”
Algorand announced additional partnerships with Mann Deshi, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).