Assisting Wuhan, what can the blockchain do for public welfare?

This Spring Festival, the new coronavirus epidemic affects everyone's heart. As of 12:00 on January 27th, Beijing time, there were 2783 confirmed cases of new-type coronavirus infection nationwide, 5794 suspected, 81 dead, and 52 cured.

Recently, medical supplies on the front line in Wuhan are in short supply, and the supply of masks, protective clothing, goggles, etc. to ensure the safety of medical staff is in short supply, making many people sleepless at night. People from all walks of life across the country have voluntarily set up rescue teams to raise funds, transport materials, and help Wuhan. Among them are many blockchain-related companies and organizations.

1. Donation system based on blockchain wallet

The "Blockchain Public Welfare Organization", initiated by Maggie Wu, has more than 50 people. The launch declaration stated: "We are a group of practitioners in the blockchain industry and volunteers for this event to donate medical supplies to Wuhan and surrounding cities. We have created a donation system based on the blockchain wallet to enable each transaction process Transparent, accountable and efficient. "

At present, this plan has raised 45,000 USDT (about 300,000 yuan) in charitable donation funds and purchased medical supplies from around the world. In addition, Huobi Group and the blockchain non-profit organization conducted a 1: 1 donation plan, so the total fundraising amount was 89,000 USDT (about 610,000 yuan). Binance Fund also paid 500,000 yuan through this channel to purchase 50,000 masks.

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2. Digital Asset Research Institute launches New Year's Eve Initiative

On January 24, the Digital Asset Research Institute, led by economist Zhu Jiaming, joined Zero One Finance to form a voluntary working group of more than 40 people, and launched the New Year's Eve Proposal, advocating everyone: "(1) use personal and institutional power To support medical consumables and protective supplies for frontline physicians; (2) ask all parties to find special material suppliers (especially protective clothing and isolation clothing) that have stocks; (3) issue your New Year's Eve proposal, and Frontline physicians write thank-you and sympathy letters; (4) do what you can and contribute some time; "

According to the information disclosed at 20 o'clock on January 26, the Digital Asset Research Institute raised 200,000 yuan in donation funds and 210,000 sets of medical-grade N95 masks for donated materials. After collecting the specific needs of 34 hospitals, disease control centers and the Red Cross, the fundraising team has implemented the transportation and delivery of a batch of materials. 1,000 sets of protective clothing and 20,000 masks have been delivered to Wuhan Central Hospital.

According to the report from the donation group of the Digital Asset Research Institute, the following work has the following key points and difficulties: First, the expansion of supply sources, especially the expansion of overseas supply sources, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has clearly stated that the domestic capacity supply cannot meet the needs of Hubei Province. Among them, the shortage of protective clothing is the strongest; second, identification, purchase and distribution is still a tedious task; third, because overseas goods need customs clearance, etc., some volunteers who are familiar with related businesses need to participate in specific work.

Manufacturers or friends who know the purchasing channels are welcome to contact them.

Digital Asset Research Institute New Year's Eve Initiative (with contact information): https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NwsB_qG8HLE2YMYAEm029A

3． A little thought: Can blockchain + public welfare work?

These days, the author has been thinking, what can the blockchain do for the epidemic? Previously, the industry also had the concept of "blockchain + public welfare". Blockchain technology's distributed accounting, decentralization, asymmetric encryption, and other features reconstitute trust in a technical way, which is conducive to solving issues such as information disclosure and transparency of charitable organizations. This will change the information disclosure mechanism, charity tracking mechanism, government information supervision mechanism, and charity audit mechanism in the charity field.

However, at present, this mechanism is ineffective in the face of an outbreak. According to the author's understanding, some blockchain technology companies have made efforts to this end, and employees work overtime to develop platforms, hoping to put on-chain records such as rescue resources, help information, qualified manufacturers, and volunteers. The promoter told the author: "There are many small businesses who want to contribute their own strength, but they may not want to join the public welfare initiated by big factories such as Ali and Tencent, and they do n’t trust some charities. Way, putting their good deeds on the chain, and making the allocation of resources more transparent, may motivate more people. "

Unfortunately, such attempts have not been successful. Summarizing the reasons, along with the epidemic situation, is an invalid and disorderly market. The chain of each node not only raises the threshold, but also increases complexity. At the time of the epidemic, it is clear that it is impossible to complete the "on-chain" matter, whether it is the supply side, the transport side or the demand side.

In terms of transparency, the USDT fundraising has the advantage that everyone can query the total amount of an address on the chain, as well as the details of inflows and outflows. Compared to traditional bank accounts, it does have higher transparency. But when it is delivered off-chain, such as buying masks and other materials, all this fails, and it is unlikely to find a merchant that receives USDT.

But we believe that with the continuous improvement of technology, the blockchain can play a role in the field of public welfare in the future. For example, according to the information I learned in the donor group: On the one hand, the phone of the hospital is often unreachable, because all parties are actively contacting the hospital to confirm the quantity, standards, and delivery of the materials; on the other hand, although the hospital has received many However, the phone has not received the goods, and it is not clear which link is reached, which may eventually cause uneven distribution of materials. One of the typical scenarios of blockchain technology is multi-party collaboration, which may solve this problem in the future.

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