Coala Pay: Transforming Humanitarian Aid With Blockchain and Stablecoins
The Opportunity
The global aid and donation supply chain has long been plagued by:
- High inefficiencies, with significant cost required in gaining visibility over funds distribution.
- Excessive middlemen fees, often up to 30%, when converting donations into local currencies (whether using financial service providers, cross border remittances, or even traditional "hawala" models).
- A reliance on outdated banking infrastructure ill-suited for crisis zones like Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza.
- Lack of real-time traceability, leading to delays in reporting and inefficiencies in emergency response.
At a time when global humanitarian needs were intensifying, the world urgently needed a modern, transparent, and efficient system for moving funds into the hands of those who needed them most.
The Solution
Enter Coala Pay — a blockchain-powered platform designed to rebuild humanitarian aid payment flows from the ground up.
Co-founded by career humanitarians and senior technologists and staffed by experts from the World Bank, UNICEF, USAID, and numerous global INGOs, Coala Pay delivers:
- Direct Donation Listings: private sector donors can fund specific giving opportunities directly through the platform.
- Stablecoin-Powered Transactions: Public sector transaction flows are instantly converted into stablecoins (e.g., USDT) on blockchains like LightLink, enabling fast, low-cost transfers with full transparency.
- End-to-End Transaction Visibility: Every payment’s journey — from donor to local implementer — is fully trackable through smart contracts and on-chain data.
- Closed-Loop Economic Systems: In future phases, Coala Pay aims to enable full stablecoin-based ecosystems in aid zones, reducing the need to ever convert back into volatile or fee-heavy fiat currencies.
- Strategic Partnerships: Coala Pay is already collaborating with organizations like Mastercard, Stellar, Save the Children, NRC, and DRC to bridge traditional and crypto financial systems.
One early live project, the Save the Children SHIFT campaign, demonstrated the platform’s potential: Donations were collected in fiat, instantly converted to USDT on LightLink’s gas-efficient network, and transferred to the field with 80% greater efficiency compared to traditional methods.
This blend of blockchain efficiency, humanitarian field expertise, and stablecoin technology positions Coala Pay to redefine how global aid flows are managed.
Results
- Funding: Raised $3.5M from established venture capital firms.
- Operational Impact: 80% cost savings compared to traditional donation flows in pilot projects.
- Partners: Projects with Save the Children, NRC, DRC, IRC, Stellar, and Mastercard.
- Team: Core leadership and advisors from frontline humanitarian organizations (World Bank, USAID, UNICEF, etc.).
- Recognition: Featured in Fortune Crypto and other leading publications.
Key Technologies
- Blockchain (LightLink, Ethereum Layer 2)
- Stablecoins (USDT, with future multi-stablecoin support)
- Smart Contracts for Payments Management
- Transparent On-Chain Tracking Systems
- Gasless Transaction Infrastructure
- Fiat-to-Stablecoin Conversion Pipelines