In 2015, the United Nations passed a resolution titled . The act cites . Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seventeen interlinked global goals designed to serve as a blueprint to achieve a more sustainable future by 2030 This Agenda is a plan of action for people, the planet, and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace and greater freedoms. The UN's number one objective is the elimination of poverty. Today, billions of humans continue to live in poverty and are denied basic dignity. There are rising inequalities within and among countries and . tremendous disparities in opportunity, wealth, and power The members of the United Nations aim to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, starting with extreme poverty, as the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for all sustainable development efforts. The following considerations focus on the impact of decentralized software solutions - popularized under the moniker - on the UN’s core objective of ending poverty in all forms everywhere. blockchain Defining Poverty The as persons living on less than US$1.90 a day. As of 2020, as much as 9.4% of the world’s population meets that criteria, according to the organization’s biennial . This represents a regression to the poverty rate in 2017. World Bank defines extreme poverty Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report Additionally, 1.8 billion people are - defined as living on less than US$3.20 a day. living in general poverty A quarter of the world's population live in poverty. It should be noted that measures taken by government officials as a reaction to an assumed  contagion threat of the COVID-19 virus are estimated to have pushed as many as 150 million people into extreme poverty in 2021 (more ). here Causes of Poverty Research conducted by the examined the causes of poverty, through analysis of household data and review of empirical findings in 20 countries, identifying four leading indicators: International Food Study Institute the inability of poor households to secure property ownership limited and poor education, leading to fewer opportunities limited access to credit, creating more poverty via inherited poverty The systematic exclusion of ethnic minorities, ethnic castes, tribes, women, and people with disabilities from participating in fair economic enterprise and access to institutions and markets. Property Ownership Property ownership and secure property rights exceed the role as just economic assets, they provide a sense of identity, dignity, and belonging to people of very different economic means (more ). here Property rights create reliable ties between community members, creating a system of mutual recognition and responsibilities beyond local communities. For many poor individuals and the communities in which they live, the relationship with property is more than just an aggregate of occupied and used plots. It is an expression of a way of life and one that they must have the opportunity to improve through their efforts. Land Registries Land registries were historically created through paper records. These documents can be lost, destroyed, falsified, or otherwise manipulated. Most modern countries' governments have, therefore largely moved to digital land registration systems. However, if someone wants to sell an older property that hasn’t previously been registered, and the paper title deeds have been lost or destroyed, the process of registering the property to sell it can be very difficult. The latter is true for much of the world's population. When an earthquake devastated large parts of Haiti in 2010, it left 1.5 million people homeless and destroyed 60 years’ worth of government archives, including land registrations. Since then, many Haitians have put great efforts and investment into rebuilding their towns and cities, but they remain without legal means of claiming the land as their own, given the government has no record of prior ownership. A into the state of land registration in Nigeria found that only 11% of real estate consultants said they always registered residential land purchases. The study also uncovered widespread corruption, along with an inefficient process for land registration evidenced by poor record-keeping, cumbersome processes, and lengthy delays. 2018 study These problems are not limited to the two examples but are indeed a common scenario around the world, causing financial hardship for families globally and more so in the developing world. Without an official, enforceable legal title to their property, citizens cannot resolve disputes over who can use which land for what – like who can farm where. They are also barred from to invest in their homes, businesses, or communities. borrowing against their existing assets Peruvian economist and anti-poverty campaigner Hernando de Soto estimates that . He further suggests that the value of properties and the lost economic opportunities for owners of assets without formal documentation have been worldwide. five billion people live without adequate records estimated at US$20 trillion Blockchain-based systems can address the fundamental shortcomings of paper or database-driven solutions to record ownership by creating a decentralized file system of immutable records. And, while the public at large has been led to believe that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are synonymous with digital art, the paradigm has a much more important role in recording rights to real-world assets. As such, blockchain-based land registries have begun to emerge in Bermuda, Brazil, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Russia, and Rwanda. Financial Inclusion In 1974, the was passed in the United States, allowing women to open bank accounts and get credit cards without the permission of their husbands or male relatives. Equal Credit Opportunity Act Nevertheless, according to the Federal Reserve's , five percent (5%) of the U.S. population remains unbanked. As shown in the graph below. The global picture of humans excluded from the legacy financial system is much worse. Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2020 - May 2021 The graphic above depicts the systemic exclusion of ethnic minorities, ethnic castes, tribes, women, and people with disabilities from participating in the legacy financial system. And, while many countries have indicated via their central banks that new technologies may address the needs of the unbanked, it has become clear that ideas like CBDCs will indeed not address the reasons for which many - - citizens are currently excluded from financial systems (more ). and likely most here Cryptocurrencies, and - more broadly - , and non-hosted (non-custodial) wallets already provide access to global financial services to an ever-growing number of citizens worldwide. Many of these individuals do not have the required government-issued credentials - an impediment that, according to a . censorship-resistant digital bearer instruments , report by the World Bank affects nearly one billion people globally As with voice-over-IP solutions, blockchain-based systems enable anybody to download client software (i.e., a digital wallet) for free and start using it without needing identification. *: While some motivated individuals in government offices claim that cryptocurrencies pose a security risk and are increasingly used for illicit purposes, has proven the opposite:  the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity is 0.34% - well below that of traditional banking services.* Note independent research Sending money internationally The gross domestic product (GDP) of countries worldwide depends on the inflow of foreign capital. However, certain regions are more reliant on remittances than others. According to World Bank data, went to economies in the Asia Pacific. 41% of all remittances sent in 2019 Of these countries, Tonga is the most remittance-dependent. 39% of the country’s GDP in 2019 comprised remittances totaling $252 million. Other countries from the region in a similar situation to Tonga include Nepal, the Philippines, and Samoa. As is common all over the world, citizens from these regions tend to move abroad to seek work in service-related jobs. Women often find employment in domestic and caregiving roles, and men usually earn money from seasonal agricultural work. The countries that migrant workers seek out most often are Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, and Canada. Another region that is heavily reliant on remittances is Central Asia. The World Bank stated that in 2019, , based on the percentage of GDP. The only countries ahead of them were Nepal, Haiti, and Tonga. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were the fourth and fifth most remittance-dependent countries in the world Central Asia is a region that contains, relatively speaking, very new countries. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan only became independent nations in 1991 due to the fall of the Soviet Union. Tajikistan is the poorest of the Central Asian nations, predominantly due to its lack of arable land. It’s incredibly mountainous, with . Both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have struggled to forge strong economies because of conflict and poor governance. This means many workers head to Russia and send their money home. over 90% of its land considered upland According to a 2020 r , emigrants working abroad sent an estimated US$470 billion to their families in their home countries. This flow of capital is a significant factor in the financial well-being of families and societies in developing nations. eport by the World Bank However, sending money through legacy financial service providers remains expensive. Using MoneyGram, for example, a migrant in the U.S. with US$50 to send to Ghana has to pay $10 in fees, meaning the recipient only receives $40. In 2021, sent from banks and 6.36 percent for sending money through money transfer operators, . transaction costs and commission rates averaged 10.96 percent for remittances more than double the SDG target of three percent Cryptocurrencies and non-custodial wallets can readily provide remittance services to anyone with a basic smartphone at costs far below SDG objectives. We are currently involved in several humanitarian projects to design systems that can provide property rights, instant global settlement solutions, and secure digital credentials. Additionally, we are designing a donor system that provides complete real-time transparency into the use of any donation. To learn more about these efforts, . contact the author

This story contains new, firsthand information uncovered by the writer.

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The Impact of Technology on Poverty

The Impact of Technology on Poverty

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