Afghan e-payment solution HesabPay has successfully migrated to the Algorand Blockchain through grant funding
HesabPay uses the Algorand blockchain to facilitate 6K daily transactions to combat Afghan humanitarian crisis
SINGAPORE, 21 September 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Algorand Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen the ecosystem of Algorand, the carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain invented by the Turing Award winner and MIT professor Silvio Micali, today announced that Afghan e-payment solution HesabPay has migrated to the platform. HesabPay’s migration, which was funded through the foundation’s grant program, is expected to stimulate around 6,000 transactions daily and impact tens of thousands of Afghans, especially women, who are in dire need of access to payments.
Using the Algorand blockchain as a settlement layer, HesabPay users will benefit from its Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism that enables near-zero-cost transactions settled within 4.5 seconds. This is expected to increase the ease of use and efficiency in which HesabPay connects international aid organizations to the citizens of Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan’s Liquidity has been drastically constrained by a crippled banking sector, frozen assets and an acute shortage of physical currency notes,” said Matt Keller, director of impact and inclusion at the Algorand Foundation. “Equipping HesabPay with a fast, reliable and cost-effective settlement layer is critical to moving international aid into the hands of those who need it most.”
While only 6% of Afghans have bank accounts, there are 27 million mobile phones in use, of which over 9 million are smartphones. HesabPay has been used by over a dozen humanitarian organizations to send funds directly to beneficiaries in urgent need, across all 400 districts and 34 provinces in Afghanistan. This includes a program to support over 5,000 female-headed households in some of the most remote areas of Badghis and Faryab.
“With 98% of Afghanistan’s population below the poverty line and withdrawal of spending that accompanied international forces, starve too many as droughts and global food prices rise,” said Sanzar Kakar, creator of HesabPay. “The Algorand Foundation shares our passion and commitment to use the power of blockchain technology to alleviate suffering by efficiently distributing financial aid with unparalleled certainty.”
HesabPay’s migration from Stellar to Algorand is complete.
ALGORAND FOUNDATION
The Algorand blockchain — designed by MIT professor and Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali — is uniquely capable of delivering on the promise of a borderless global economy. It achieves transaction throughputs at the speed of traditional finance, but with instant finality, near zero transaction costs, and on a 24/7 basis. Its carbon-neutral platform and unique pure proof-of-stake consensus mechanism solves the “blockchain trilemma” by achieving both security and scalability on a decentralized protocol, and without a second of downtime since its launch in 2019.
The Algorand Foundation is dedicated to helping fulfill the global promise of the Algorand blockchain by taking responsibility for its healthy financial supply economy, decentralized governance, and healthy and prosperous open source ecosystem. For more information, visit
HESABBAY
HesabPay is Afghanistan’s first interoperable e-payment solution and works together with Afghanistan Payments Systems (APS), commercial banks and mobile network operators to handle day-to-day transactions. HesabPay makes payments easier and more efficient, enabling fund transfer, billing, donations, e-taxation, salary and more.
Available on Android, iOS and Web in English, Pashto and Dari.
CONTACTS
Prosek Partners, on behalf of the Algorand Foundation
[email protected]
SOURCE Algorand Foundation
