Decentralised government project Bitnation offers refugees blockchain IDs and bitcoin debit cards

Bitnation, an ambitious project for the decentralisation of governance using blockchain technology, is offering victims of the current refugee crisis an emergency digital ID and a bitcoin visa card to receive funds from family in the absence of a bank account.
Susanne Templehof, founder of Bitnation, explained the Blockchain Emergency ID is a rudimentary emergency ID, based on the blockchain technology, for individuals who cannot obtain other documents of identification.
The purpose is to cryptographically prove your existence and family relations, recorded on the Horizon blockchain, a distributed public ledger (like an international public notary of sorts).
The ID form generates a QR code which can be used with a cellphone to apply for a Bitcoin Visa Card which can be used throughout Europe and the UK without a bank account.
Templehof said: “We are providing emergency ID and then this visa card because most refugees will be unemployed. They won’t be legally able to get a job for several years and they can’t open a bank account.”
She was talking at an event organised by the Bitcoin and Blockchain Leadership Forum, which is known for being a forward thinking force within this space.
Templehof added that allowing payment directly to bitcoin debit cards rather than solely relying on aid organisations spares people in crisis some added humiliation: “if you are an adult man, you are used to providing for your family and then you have to wait for handouts of blankets and food from charities.
“We also provide family services like maps where people can say, ‘I lost this person here – I’m in Germany’. So it’s basically all built around families uniting again.”

This post was published at International Business Times on October 30, 2015.