How SKYBIT is using blockchain to help aid organizations in Myanmar SKYBIT ASIA Follow Jan 28 · 4 min read

The world is but one family. When a family member is in trouble, others step up to help. While aid and humanitarian agencies usually help in times of crisis, there are some companies that have an active social position and altruistic goals. In Myanmar, SKYBIT is the first social enterprise that seeks to use the transformative capabilities of blockchain technology for humanitarian purposes in a bid to save thousands of lives.

How can blockchain help humanitarian efforts?

The crux of saving lives and rescuing crucial resources from permanent damage after a crisis is the speed with which aid is dispensed so that people on the ground can get started. However, a variety of regional issues — geographical, accessibility, political, economic — can hamper the speed at which aid from donors is dispensed across the world to the region in need.

Take the case of the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The abysmal response and the trickling rate at which aid reached the country is estimated to have contributed to the deaths of over 4500 people and a loss of almost $100 billion in damages. If there was a way for aid to reach there quickly and be accounted for, experts believe that things could have been different.

This is where blockchain technology can help. A crypto-based payment processor can make it extremely easy and fast for donations to reach the intended region within hours of a crisis and the inherent structure of the blockchain can also help in real-time visualization of the way in which the funds have been utilized. Humanitarian workers on the ground can streamline their processes and put their plans into action swiftly and not wait for days for aid money to arrive.

Problems and innovative solutions — The UNICEF experiment

True to the adopted philosophy of creating “innovative mechanisms for financing of development” as resolved by the United Nations, UNICEF has recently launched the UNICEF Crypto Fund, a prototype that lets the UN agency accept crypto donations from around the world. This fund is then directly invested in early-stage, open-source blockchain startups that are working for the betterment of children and at-risk populations around the world.

According to Christina Lomazzo, UNICEF’s head of blockchain, the crypto fund is not so much as being crypto, but it is something “as being ready for a digital future.” Within days of its inception, the fund already has three existing portfolio companies that are creating blockchain-based platforms for social good.

SKYBIT as part of the movement

Apart from being a for-profit business, SKYBIT has a very strong, inherently social and humanitarian aspect. Its digital asset-powered payment processor and advertising platform help local aid agencies in Myanmar to spread their campaigns to a global audience and receive instantaneous donations in local currency. All they need is a local mobile money wallet or bank account.

SKYBIT understands the simple needs of people and with simplicity in mind is building a trustworthy donations platform for everyone to use.

As Myanmar steps into the global mainstream, it still has a fractured banking system that is as yet inefficient in processing international monetary transactions. The efforts of aid agencies in Myanmar and surrounding countries trying to help the needy people are hampered by their inability to attract aid from international donors. At such a time, SKYBIT’s platform can be used to provision critical relief for these agencies.

The entire SKYBIT ecosystem has been modelled to align itself perfectly with the recommendations of the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation that included Bill and Melinda Gates as well as Jack Ma. Furthermore, all of it was constituted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The report — The Age of Digital Interdependence — calls for cooperation in the digital space and use of transformative digital technologies to bring about empowering digital inclusion of all sections of society to build a prosperous and sustainable world.

Parting thoughts

We live in a complex world that is prone to humanitarian crises. And to provide timely assistance, the world needs a seamless and borderless way so that precious lives can be saved and damages curtailed.

SKYBIT’s blockchain-powered ecosystem creates just this kind of borderless monetary ecosystem that helps aid organizations to receive donations for needy people in Myanmar. It is a business with a heart, one that is committed to help and serve people when they need it the most.

About SKYBIT

SKYBIT is Myanmar’s leading blockchain services platform that includes a payment processor for financial transactions, an advertising platform for businesses of all sizes and a digital asset conversion platform. SKYBIT seeks to help every person in Myanmar and Southeast Asia to join the global economy without any restrictions.

SKYBIT is to hold an initial exchange offering (IEO)with phase 1 kicking off on the 20th March 2020 . If you wish to be part of a promising, growing project, check out its offering details and help the project raise funds to bring smiles on millions of faces.

To know more about the project that is set to change how people can be included in a new, seamless financial and business ecosystem, visit the SKYBIT website. To get regular updates on all the developments, join the SKYBIT public chat groups on Telegram and Kakao Talk.