How Blockchain Is Being Used To Help Migrants

Billionaire investor George Soros is working to ease the global refugee crisis using blockchain technology. He spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, speaking about how underpinning cryptocurrencies can play an important role in immigration. He said; “Blockchain technology can be put to positive use. And we use it actually in helping migrants to communicate with their families and to keep their money safe and to carry it with them.” However, it was not immediately clear how Soros planned on using the technology for these purposes. Blockchains are able to keep a secure record of all the transactions, whether these are financial or not. It could be questioned that the most obvious way in which blockchain technology could be used to help migrants would be that it is a way for them to securely store their money whilst they are travelling – converting cash into digital currency; however Soros has dismissed the value of cryptocurrency, saying that he believed the primary appeal of them was ‘for tax evasion’ and ‘the rulers of dictatorships’. This differs from the opinions of others though, such as Naval Ravikant, who have praised cryptocurrency as a means of escaping the oppression ‘from oligarchs and tyrants.’. Soros added though; “Cryptocurrency is a misnomer and it’s a typical bubble which is always based on some kind of misunderstanding. Bitcoin is not a currency, because a currency is supposed to be a stable store of value, and a currency that can fluctuate 25% in a day can’t be used, for instance, to pay wages, because the wages could drop by 25% in a day.” Soros is not the only one to have a similar negative view of cryptocurrencies. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan has very publicly called Bitcoin a ‘fraud’, but is still investing in blockchain technologies that could make banking operations more efficient. Image Source: Pixabay Sponsored by