In Northwest Syria, a critical network of hospitals faces a unique challenge: how do you pay medical staff and fund healthcare when your country is completely cut off from the global financial system?

Due to economic sanctions and a fractured banking infrastructure following over a decade of civil war, humanitarian organizations like the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) have struggled to safely distribute funds.

Previously, hospital employees had to embark on grueling, risky journeys to the Turkish border, waiting in long lines for hours just to collect their salaries in physical cash.

In this episode, we take a firsthand look at how the evolution of cross-border payments is impacting real lives on the ground.

UOSSM is sending bulk payments to its employees on the blockchain, who receive their salaries in their digital wallets, and then use informal Hawala networks to off-ramp the digital dollars into cash. 

In this episode of Money Trails, presented by‪ Stellar Development Foundation‬ we're joined by Ibrahim Abdulhuseyin, CEO & Co-founder & CEO of DigiBank, Tori Samples, the Director of Product, Stellar, and Younes Al-Haj Saleh, from UOSSM's Financial Operations.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

00:00 - Intro
01:27 - How employees used to get paid
02:38 - Civil war and sanctions
03:47 - UOSSM's payment struggles
05:58 - Stablecoin payments
06:49 - How Digibank built Syria's cash-out network
08:38 - Bulk payments with SDP
10:30 - Aid orgs are crypto adopters

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