Beyond Crypto: How Blockchain Is Being Rewired to Fix Payments, Climate and Trust

UNDP’s New Tech, New Partners shows how blockchain, when governed responsibly, is being used across dozens of countries to make public systems from payments and climate finance to identity and health, more transparent, efficient, and trustworthy. Rather than hype, the report presents blockchain as a practical coordination tool that helps governments retain control while connecting global finance, data, and local development outcomes.

For years, blockchain has been surrounded by hype, speculation, and confusion. Often associated with volatile cryptocurrencies, it has struggled to gain credibility in development policy circles. A new UNDP publication, New Tech, New Partners: Transforming Development in the Digital Era, argues that the conversation is finally shifting. Produced by the UNDP Alternative Finance Lab with UNDP’s Innovation and Digital Team, the Istanbul Regional Hub, and more than 40 country offices, the report draws on collaborations with institutions such as the Algorand Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, Cardano’s Project Catalyst, the Sui Foundation, Korea University, and the University of Cambridge. Together, they document how blockchain is being tested on the ground, not as a financial gamble, but as a tool to rebuild trust in public systems.

Governing in a World Moving Too Fast

The report starts from a shared dilemma facing governments everywhere. Decisions about digital identity, payment systems, social protection, and climate finance are being made faster than public institutions can normally learn or adapt. Earlier waves of digitization often locked countries into closed, proprietary systems that delivered speed but weakened transparency and public control. UNDP argues that the challenge today is not whether systems will go digital, but who designs them, who governs them, and who ultimately benefits. Blockchain enters this debate as a possible coordination layer that can help governments manage complexity rather than surrender authority to vendors or fragmented intermediaries.

What Blockchain Actually Does, And Why It Matters

Stripped of jargon, blockchain is a shared digital ledger that records transactions and rules in a way that is difficult to alter without detection. This makes it useful in settings where trust is low and systems are fragmented. Payments can be tracked end to end, eligibility decisions can be audited, and climate or supply-chain claims can be verified by multiple actors at once. The report is careful, however, not to romanticize the technology. Blockchain can introduce new risks, from privacy violations to cyber threats, and it shifts trust from institutions to technology and those who design it. UNDP’s message is clear: blockchain only creates public value when paired with strong governance, regulation, and safeguards.

From Aid Delivery to System Change

Across more than 50 pilots in over 50 countries, UNDP is testing blockchain not as isolated tech experiments, but as part of broader system reforms. In Guatemala, migrant remittances are being partially pooled into community-governed investment funds, turning everyday transfers into long-term local development capital. In Haiti, Liberia, Colombia, and Syria, shared digital payment systems are speeding up social transfers and humanitarian assistance, even in low-connectivity settings and for people without bank accounts or smartphones. The focus is less on novelty and more on reliability: reducing delays, cutting leakage, and generating data that governments can actually use.

Climate finance is another major testing ground. In Mexico, Indigenous forest stewards receive transparent climate payouts. In Nigeria, solar mini-grid operators build verifiable payment histories that strengthen their case to investors. In India, small rice farmers aggregate emission reductions into carbon programmes that finally allow rural communities to access carbon markets. At the national level, countries like Sierra Leone and Tanzania are developing blockchain-based carbon registries to prevent double-counting and bring fast-growing carbon markets under public oversight.

Trust, Data, and Everyday Governance

Beyond finance, the report shows how blockchain is quietly reshaping the governance of public goods. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ghana, digital diplomas anchored to blockchains allow instant verification without exposing personal data. In Malawi, privacy-preserving tools help humanitarian agencies coordinate aid and avoid excluding vulnerable households during climate shocks. In Kazakhstan, anonymous digital passes enable access to HIV prevention services without forcing people to reveal identities that could put them at risk. In Mauritius and Seychelles, blockchain-based consent systems give patients visibility into who accesses their health data, addressing legal gaps and growing mistrust in digital health systems.

Supply chains tell a similar story. From agriculture in Angola and Sudan to plastic recovery in Armenia, India, and El Salvador, blockchain is being used to make origin, handling, and compliance visible across fragmented value chains, helping producers reach fairer markets while giving regulators and buyers confidence in the data.

A Modest but Powerful Claim

UNDP is careful not to overpromise. Many pilots remain small, and the impact is still emerging. But taken together, the report makes a clear argument. Blockchain will not replace institutions. It will not solve inequality on its own. But when designed responsibly and governed well, it can help reconnect trust, accountability, and public purpose at a moment when development systems are being rebuilt faster than ever.