Crypto: Spanish Red Cross Launches Privacy-first Blockchain Aid Platform
The Spanish Red Cross (Creu Roja) has deployed a new blockchain-based aid distribution system, RedChain, that promises real-time donor transparency without exposing the identities of the people receiving assistance.
According to a release shared with Cointelegraph, the platform, developed with Barcelona-based infrastructure provider BLOOCK and zero-knowledge credential firm Billions Network, aims to digitize “the entire aid lifecycle from donation to disbursement.”
It replaces paper vouchers and prepaid cards with ERC‑20 aid credits issued on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, delivered to a mobile wallet that can be used at participating merchants via quick response (QR) codes.
Beneficiary data, including names, contact information, and case records, is kept entirely offchain in Creu Roja’s own systems. The public blockchain is used purely as a verification layer, anchoring hashes, timestamps and integrity proofs of transactions rather than personal information.
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Donors and administrators can audit when and where funds were allocated and spent, while the system is designed so that no party can reconstruct individual identities from onchain records.
A spokesperson from Creu Roja told Cointelegraph, “Donors can see aggregated, verifiable information on how funds are allocated and spent,” such as how much was distributed within a program and when disbursements occurred. However, “what donors will never see are the identities of beneficiaries or their personal circumstances.”
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Creu Roja frames RedChain as a response to mounting pressure on humanitarian organizations to demonstrate that aid reaches its intended purpose without turning vulnerable communities into data sources.
Recipients will receive digital credits in a wallet on their phone and pay at normal checkouts, making transactions indistinguishable from standard purchases and avoiding visible markers that signal someone as an aid recipient.
Source: CoinTelegraph
