Efficient and secure borderless humanitarian aid by Xcapit

While numerous humanitarian aid programs are in place, Humanitarian Cash Transfers (HCTs) distinguish themselves as exceptionally effective in supporting children and families affected by natural disasters, conflicts, severe malnutrition, or displacement as refugees, particularly in terms of restoring their dignity. However, the delivery of such aid is not without its challenges, being both expensive and operationally complex. This is the gap our solution aims to bridge.

Millions worldwide are impacted by these crises, and the necessity and impact of our approach are amplified by factors like the magnitude of disasters, the intensity of conflicts, and the depth of displacement crises. (Just to mention, today UNICEF transacts 600M USD and the World Food Program 3.3B USD, being just two of the hundreds of organizations that provide humanitarian aid).

Our strategy also helps to foster financial and digital inclusion through the provision of access to credit, digital identity tools, and insurance, all while ensuring the security of privacy and personal data.

Moreover, we are committed to generating new economic opportunities and providing a safeguard against economic shocks for workers. This includes creating quality jobs, enhancing workforce development, and promoting inclusive and achievable asset ownership, laying the groundwork for a more resilient and inclusive future.

Xcapit is reshaping the distribution of humanitarian aid by creating a blockchain-based platform for cash disbursement. This system allows governments and humanitarian agencies to transfer cash assistance to those in dire need in a secure and efficient way, ensuring a more stable and prosperous future for communities affected by poverty, conflicts, disasters, and climate change impacts. By utilizing blockchain technology, Xcapit significantly reduces transaction fees, allowing more funds to be allocated to helping vulnerable people.

Moreover, the system streamlines aid efforts by preventing duplication of work, conserving valuable resources, and ensuring that aid reaches those who are most in need, thereby guaranteeing effective and targeted support.

Xcapit's solution is especially inclusive, catering to under-resourced beneficiaries who may lack access to a bank account, passport, internet, or smartphone. It enables these individuals to engage with blockchain in a seamless manner  through account abstraction, making the technology accessible even to those with feature phones or low-end smartphones. This approach eliminates the need for storage space on the user's device, an internet connection, and extensive learning to utilize the solution effectively.

In handling sensitive and private data of highly vulnerable individuals in fragile and complex environments, Xcapit ensures the utmost privacy and security. Our system does not store any sensitive information such as names, dates of birth, or biometrics, maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of all beneficiaries.

With our solution, by enabling humanitarian cash interventions to promote and oversee essential health and education-related tasks. This impacts child nutrition, vaccination, and school attendance. Families will be incentivized to complete the healthy and desirable activities, as the funds will be unlocked in their wallets after providing evidence of completion.

We have the potential to assist people on the move by providing them with a digital identity to carry their medical and vaccination history. Humanitarian cash programs can monitor their educational attendance and provide better assistance without compromising their privacy.

By incentivizing regular medical check-ups, we can detect earlier signs of any form of violence, abuse, and neglect. 

By improving the implementation of cash transfers, we help existing policies to reduce poverty.

Our solution is tailored to serve a diverse and specific group of persons, each with a deep interest in enhancing financial inclusion and streamlining humanitarian assistance. This group encompasses:

UNICEF and the United Nations (UN): These international organizations are key players in global humanitarian efforts, focusing on children's welfare, education, and health. They allocate between 600M and 3.3 Billion dollars per year to cash transfers. for vulnerable populations and support projects aiming to improve financial accessibility and inclusion.

Governments at several Levels: This includes national, regional, and local government bodies that offer subsidies and financial assistance programs aimed at promoting financial inclusion among their citizens. These entities are interested in efficient, transparent, and scalable methods to distribute aid, such as blockchain-based cash transfer systems, which can significantly enhance the impact of their social welfare programs.

The impact of our solution is multifaceted:

For Beneficiaries: Direct and secure access to aid, irrespective of their access to traditional banking or internet services.

For Aid Organizations: Reduced operational costs and improved efficiency in aid distribution.

For Donors: Enhanced transparency and traceability in how their contributions are utilized.

Our team, based in the heart of Latin America, possesses an intimate understanding of the region's specific financial accessibility challenges, uniquely positioning us to develop effective blockchain solutions.  We are the ideal team to lead this project due to our deep empathy and understanding of the needs of the vulnerable populations we are committed to assisting. With a diverse range of professional backgrounds, we bring advanced technical skills in blockchain technology, along with practical experience in finance and web3 applications. Our ability to secure partnerships with major players like the UNICEF Innovation Fund, AWS, Polygon, Santander X, among others, further strengthens our capabilities.

Beyond our technical proficiency, our previous experiences have instilled in us a unique sensitivity to the realities and challenges facing these communities. Recognizing the importance of inclusion and accessibility in technological solutions, we endeavor to ensure that our platform is accessible to those with limited resources and without access to advanced technology.

Our team's diverse backgrounds and experiences provide us with a broad and multifaceted perspective to address the complex challenges facing these communities. We are dedicated to collaborating closely with community leaders and local organizations to ensure that our solutions are genuinely informed by the needs of the people we serve. Furthermore, our track record in similar projects has equipped us with a unique sensitivity to the needs and aspirations of populations affected by poverty, conflicts, disasters, and climate change. We are committed to leveraging this experience to design effective and meaningful solutions that address the most pressing needs of these communities.

Our solution is currently in the pilot phase. As we are in the pilot stage while our technology has been launched and is serving users we are actively working on iterating and improving its features and usability.

The technical foundation of our solution comprises a sophisticated stack of technologies, services, and tools designed to ensure robustness, scalability, and security. For backend services, we utilize Django and Express.js, complemented by Docker for containerization, ensuring our infrastructure is agile and can be deployed consistently across any environment. PostgreSQL serves as our database choice due to its reliability and performance. Task management and distribution are handled by Celery with Redis, enabling efficient processing of asynchronous tasks across various workers.

Blockchain technologies play a pivotal role in our solution, with on-chain development being carried out using the Hardhat and Foundry frameworks. These tools are chosen for their reliability and the extensive support they receive from the blockchain development community.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is our primary infrastructure provider, selected for its comprehensive service offerings and scalability options. As we progress, we are also exploring additional services through proofs of concept in the early stages of the project. Among these are SMS/IVR for communication and RPC/Bundlers and Paymasters for blockchain interactions, which are critical for enhancing our platform's functionality and user experience.

In developing our solution, we emphasize using tools and solutions that have been rigorously tested and validated by the broader blockchain community. This includes leveraging Account Abstraction Contracts (e.g., Infinitism, Alchemy, Kernel) and SDKs (e.g., Stackup, Alchemy), which are instrumental in simplifying user interactions with blockchain technologies and improving overall system efficiency.

Our pilot phase is a period of growth and learning, aimed at gaining traction and potentially attracting investment capital to scale our operations. Through continuous iteration and engagement with our user base, we strive to refine our solution, ensuring it meets the needs of our target audience and contributes to our mission of promoting financial inclusion and humanitarian assistance

The initiative to apply to SOLVE as a program comes from understanding that the impact is much greater when there is collaboration and cooperation. SOLVE as a game-changer ecosystem for our tool to evolve, to be nourished by a strong network of professionals with experience, and mainly to improve its efficacy and efficiency as a means to solve problems is our main driving force.

We have a deep admiration for those who are MIT Solvers today and know that we can benefit from that network, while we also have a deep calling to collaborate with it. It’s not only the will to continue pushing boundaries, but also the responsibility that compels us to continue giving back to those who are in dire need. We trust and believe that the best answers come from collective intelligence. We share the purpose of positively impacting those who need it most, and of surrounding ourselves with an ecosystem that creates and works towards the same direction. We envision SOLVE not only as an acceleration program but mainly as a valuable group of human beings that we want to be part of.

In our experience, there is always a tipping point when you manage to be part of communities that generate impact and achieve a higher reach. We believe that SOLVE is exactly one of those ecosystems and we are extremely eager to be part of it to continue working towards a more inclusive, equitable and brighter future with opportunities for everyone.

Our solution's uniqueness lies in the powerful combination of our strategic partnerships and the depth of our team's expertise. Collaborating with esteemed entities like UNICEF, AWS, Santander X100, and Polygon amplifies our capability to address financial accessibility issues with innovative approaches. Our location in Latin America, enriched by our team's diverse professional backgrounds and specialized expertise in blockchain technology and web3 applications, positions us uniquely to understand and tackle regional challenges in financial inclusion.

For six years, our focus has been on fostering collaboration and driving innovation, staying agile in the rapidly evolving landscape of digital finance. This dedication to innovation is not just about adopting new technologies but also about creating meaningful connections and leveraging the strengths of our partners to develop holistic, sustainable solutions. Our approach combines the reliability of established financial institutions with the cutting-edge potential of blockchain and web3 technologies, enabling us to offer secure, inclusive, and accessible financial services tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of underbanked populations in Latin America and beyond.

Our initiative aims to boost personal and economic empowerment through financial inclusion by providing innovative blockchain-based solutions. By collaborating with esteemed partners such as UNICEF, AWS, Santander X100, and Polygon, and by utilizing our team's deep expertise in blockchain technology and web3 applications, we facilitate secure, accessible, and inclusive services. This approach allows targeted audiences first of all to be recognized as individuals, and that becomes the starting point to evolve in lives. Taking into account that people may have moved due to forced displacement, this becomes a vulnerable situation in order to accredit previous life. That’s when digital identity and verifiable credentials work as the springboard for development. This situation is even worse in underbanked communities, where building a credit score from scratch looks like an impossible task. To gain improved access to credit, digital identity tools are allies to achieve this and eventually work as an engine for social and economic development. As a result, we envision a transformative impact based on decentralized identity and financial tools that bring economic opportunities, livelihoods, and a broader ecosystem, contributing to sustainable development and prosperity in the regions we serve.

1 - No Poverty

Ensure that all have equal rights to economic resources and financial services and help to reduce the proportion of them living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

Indicators:

• Proportion of the population assisted by support programs by gender, age, employment status, and geographical location (urban/rural).

• Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural).

2- Zero Hunger

Combats hunger by incentivizing nutrition-related tasks.

Indicators:

• Increase in meal distribution numbers, measuring how many meals are provided to targeted communities.

• Nutrition improvement rates, monitored through health checks before and after program implementation

3. Good Health and Well-Being

Pushes health policies as vaccination and medical check-ups.

Indicators:

• Vaccination coverage rate, tracking the percentage of the target population that receives vaccinations.

• Number of medical check-ups conducted, providing a direct measure of the health services provided.

• Health improvement statistics, assessed through pre- and post-health screenings to measure changes in community health metrics.

4. Quality Education 

Pushes educational policies and school attendance. 

Indicators:

• School attendance rate improvement, monitoring changes in daily or yearly attendance figures.

• Educational achievement metrics, such as literacy and numeracy scores, to assess the quality of education.

• Rate of progression to higher education, tracking the percentage of students who continue to secondary or tertiary education.

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

Works as the first account to start charging for their jobs.

Indicators:

• Employment rate among program participants, measuring how many individuals gain employment after receiving a digital identity.

• Income levels before and after program participation, assessing economic improvement.

• Business creation rates, tracking how many participants start new businesses using their new financial tools and digital identities.

9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: 

Develop quality, reliable and sustainable infrastructure based on blockchain, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.

Indicators:

• Number of developed systems 

• Number of requests made to the program.

• Relationship between successfully executed processes and those that failed.

• Program acceptance rate.

10 - Reduced Inequalities

Empower and promote the digital and economic inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.

Indicators:

• Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.

• Relationship between the proportion of the population assisted by support programs and the proportion of people living below 50 per cent of median income.

16 - Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions:

Develop and enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability in aid delivery for institutions.

Indicators: 

    Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of support programs.

• Communication and support protocols for beneficiaries.

• Institutional functions manual for the different support programs.

• Benefits delivery time to beneficiaries.

17 - Partnerships for the Goals: 

Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.

Indicators:

• Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources.

• Volume of remittances (in United States dollars) as a proportion of total GDP.

The technology stack used for this development consists of various technologies, services, and tools. Django and express.js, along with Docker, will be used for backend services. As for databases, the choice is PostgreSQL. The management of asynchronous tasks and their distribution among the different workers will be carried out with Celery and Redis. Blockchain development, on-chain, will be undertaken using the Hardhat and Foundry frameworks.

We will use AWS as our main infrastructure provider and will evaluate other necessary services to be contracted through proofs of concept that we will carry out at an early stage of the project. Some of these services to be evaluated are:

* SMS/IVR.

* RPC/Bundlers and Paymasters

It is important to mention that we will use and base ourselves on tools and solutions that are being widely tested by the blockchain community. To name just a few:

* Account Abstraction Contracts (Infinitisim, Alchemy, Kernel, etc.)

* Account Abstraction SDKs (Stackup, Alchemy, etc.)

Architecture Diagram:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-SGwpAHPQ5QqempPH_Izxt6Z_IeLQ4W52smWfmxLfU8/edit

• User Op Service: A service responsible for constructing user operations to send to the blockchain. To achieve this, it needs to communicate with other services to obtain the necessary information and validations.

• Custodial Service: A service that custodies private keys to sign user operations.

• SMS/IVR Service: Manages communication via SMS, including sending OTPs, responses to inquiries, etc.

• Paymaster Service: A service that validates a user operation so that it can be sponsored when executed on the blockchain. This means the user operation will not pay a fee, as it is subsidized by the paymaster.

• Bundler Service: Responsible for validating user operations, bundling them, and sending them to the blockchain as a large transaction.

• Account Abstraction: A set of smart contracts that make up Account Abstraction.

Added to the decentralized digital identity (DID) services and verifiable credentials that, with the help of zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), maintain the privacy necessary for this type of interventions.

This is achieved with the implementation of Polygon ID Stack or Quark-ID depending on the implementation needed.

Full Time

15

Part Time

6

EFT

18

Since 2022, we have focused on developing a solution that initiated with the launch of a wallet, setting the stage for our current project. Our commitment has involved advancing research on the optimal technology to overcome specific challenges and gaining a deep understanding of the problems we aim to address. We have explored blockchain technology extensively and built solid relationships with community leaders to support our vision. This journey of preparation and ongoing learning has equipped us with the experience needed to successfully execute this project.

We ensure that our team is diverse and fosters inclusion through our commitment to organizational principles that prioritize distributed authority, individual wholeness, and evolutionary purpose. Our leadership team reflects diversity by comprising men and women with diverse perspectives, ensuring decisions are made with a comprehensive understanding of various viewpoints. We prioritize creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where all team members feel valued and appreciated for their contributions.

To minimize barriers to opportunities, we actively promote transparency, honesty, and trust within our organization. This fosters an atmosphere where team members feel empowered to express their opinions and ideas without fear of judgment or discrimination. Additionally, we provide professional development and growth opportunities, ensuring everyone has access to resources and support to thrive in their roles.

Our team's goals are deeply integrated into our organizational culture. We regularly assess our practices and policies to identify areas for improvement and implement measures to address them. This includes actively recruiting and retaining diverse talent, providing training on unconscious bias and cultural competence, and fostering open dialogue on diversity and inclusion issues.

https://www.figma.com/file/iROXJqXeHewDDl89fhaTk1/Untitled?type=whiteboard&node-id=1-1571&t=sERIMU2ZApynWXJR-0

Our business model has always been based on seeking technologies that, while being cost and time efficient, also generate economic benefits for those who adopt them, and for the company, a sustainable business model. To date, part of our funding has come from grants from UNICEF, IBD, and RELAI among others, at the same time that we received angel and VC´s investment to allow us to advance in the research and development needed to build these types of solutions. Upon the implementation of this solution, various revenue sources arise such as:

• Set up fees for each institution and country that adopts and implements the use of our tool.

• Commission on the on-off ramps that we integrate within the solution.

• SaaS for the daily maintenance and operation of the solution.

• Development of software services to adapt each institution, government, or organization's technological solutions to the tool.