Giving Compass' Take:

• Doug Galen, co-founder of RippleWorks presented the reasons why blockchain technology can help philanthropists track their donations while accelerating social change. 

• What are the potential challenges with introducing blockchain into both the development and philanthropy sector? 

• Read more about the risks and opportunities of blockchain for philanthropy.

Plenty of people are asking whether the potential of blockchain for good is hype or reality, but a new report released on Thursday claims to be getting closer to an answer.

Doug Galen, co-founder and CEO of RippleWorks, which pairs Silicon Valley experts with social ventures in emerging markets facing scaling challenges, presented the findings of a study on 193 blockchain initiatives dedicated to social good at a breakfast at the Skoll World Forum.

Speaking to a room of founders and funders and others interested in the potential of distributed ledger technology to accelerate their work, Galen said the impact of blockchain in the sector was already happening and set to accelerate. The report found that while 74 percent of the blockchain projects graduate students evaluated are in concept or pilot phase, 55 percent are expected to have an impact on people in the next year.

“One of blockchain’s primary benefits to philanthropy or aid is that it enables a donation to be traced through every step, from donor to recipient, and records every action and intermediary along the way,” the report stated. “Additionally, the use of smart contracts enables the determination of specific conditional milestones that must be reached before funds are disbursed.”

In a recent webinar, experts from the World Economic Forum and Mercy Corps told Devex that the global development community needs to understand how the technology works, the potential use cases, and whether it might add value to their work. This new report could serve as a useful tool in doing so.

Read the full article about blockchain in the development sector by Catherine Cheney at Devex International Development