Homeless people in New York will receive smartphones with Cryptocurrency

On the eve of Christmas, the authors of the Blockchain for Change start-up decided to donate three thousand homeless New York smartphones with cryptowallet for dollars and Change Coin cryptocurrency. At the very beginning, each will have 30 coins, which can be spent on calls and Internet traffic. Only in New York more than 60 thousand people sleep in doss houses and on the street, and most of them have no means of communication. The project initiators plan to distribute about 200,000 gadgets by mid-2018.

The gift smartphone will be pre-installed with a special application Fummi, through which a homeless person can create a digital ID and thereby gain access to public services and aid funds, find the nearest shelters and social canteens, control their expenses for a hairdresser, clothes, shower and overnight.

This is the first project to help the homeless with the use of blockchain technology. At an early stage, the project received $ 500,000 of investment.

According to various estimates, about 1.1 billion people around the world are not officially registered. That makes it difficult for them to access bank accounts, loans, government programs and services. In addition, there is a hope that the introduction of blockchain will help reduce corruption and waste. According to the UN, about 30% of aid never reaches its legitimate destination.