On February 3 (Korean time), Billions Network announced via its official X account that it has partnered with the Spanish Red Cross (Creu Roja) and technology infrastructure company BLOOCK to deploy a blockchain-based "privacy-preserving digital aid platform".
This initiative comes at a time when global humanitarian organizations are facing increasing pressure for aid accountability. Through this project, the Spanish Red Cross has replaced traditional manual and paper-based processes with a digital system, providing donors with full financial transparency while fully protecting the dignity and privacy of vulnerable aid recipients.
The new system digitizes the entire aid lifecycle from donation to distribution, creating an immutable audit trail. Unlike some blockchain projects that rely on biometrics or invasive data collection, this platform verifies aid eligibility and effectiveness without recording recipients' identity information.
Francisco López Romero, Chief Technology Officer of the Spanish Red Cross (Catalonia), stated: "People seeking help should not have to choose between receiving aid and protecting their privacy. We designed this system so that donors can verify that their contributions have actually made an impact, while recipients receive support without worrying about being tracked, profiled, or stigmatized."
With this platform, recipients can receive digital aid credits through a personal mobile wallet without needing a bank account or credit history. These credits can be spent at authorized local merchants via QR codes, similar to regular shopping transactions, thereby avoiding the use of "aid cards" that publicly identify recipients. This effectively prevents stigmatization and preserves personal dignity.
Lluís Llibre, CEO of technology partner BLOOCK, emphasized the system's security: "Blockchain should be used to prove facts, not store content. Every transaction generates a permanently anchored cryptographic proof, but this proof does not contain any personal information."
Evin McMullen, Co-founder and CEO of Billions Network, highlighted the significance of this collaboration: "What the Spanish Red Cross is building here is a credential system, not a surveillance system."
She added: "Recipients keep their proof of eligibility in their own wallet, present it when needed, and that's it—no other information is exposed, then they continue with their normal lives. This is how identity systems should operate, especially in public interest and humanitarian systems, where individuals owning and controlling their own credentials is crucial."
The project is seen as an important demonstration of blockchain technology's social value: it achieves accountability, privacy protection, and digital efficiency while addressing long-standing issues of insufficient transparency and data misuse in the humanitarian aid sector.
