Did you know that 2.4 billion people have no identity? Without legal identity, billions of people are without access to the social and financial services that many of us take for granted today. People without legal identity are socially, financially and legally excluded.

This global challenge is also a huge opportunity. Triggering an estimated investment of $2-3 trillion a year, the potential value that can be unlocked for society is immense. Markets are already reacting to this substantial potential in return of investment for this global agenda.

Joseph Thompson is the CEO and Co-founder of AID:Tech, the company that uses Digital Identity and Blockchain technology to revolutionize how governments, enterprises and NGOs deliver digital entitlements.

AID:Tech is the first company in the world to successfully deliver aid to Syrian refugees completely transparently, the project is also leveraging blockchain technology to make a difference. In late 2015 a camp in Lebanon unwittingly became the first to use blockchain technology as a means of receiving humanitarian aid.

As the first blockchain project to receive funding from both the Irish and Singapore government, AID:Tech recently launched an initiative with PharmAccess to monitor digitally guided pregnancies of one hundred women in Tanzania and marked a significant milestone as the first African 'baby on the blockchain' was safely delivered this month.

Joseph is a highly sought-after thought leader and recognized as one of only ten global SDG Pioneers by the UN for harnessing Blockchain technology and its potential in global development, and in January 2018, he was named as the world’s 22nd most Visionary Leader.

In addition to speaking about how AID:Tech’s platform enables entitlements like aid, welfare, remittances, donations, and healthcare to be digitized and delivered through blockchain technology in a completely transparent manner, we also discuss the following. 

• Restoring donation transparency in the charity sector
  
• Delivering digital identities to vulnerable populations - can this assist in facilitating the integration of refugees?
• Intersecting blockchain with humanitarian aid
• Revolutionising remittance payments for the unbanked
• Bringing social and financial inclusion to the world’s underserved populations