In this episode, we are joined by Coala Pay. Coala Pay is a money movement and management platform purpose-built for the international aid sector that leverages blockchain technology to perform grantee due diligence, track spending & impact, and get money to the organizations that need it most — fast.
This interview was conducted by Rocky Gerosa, Program Assistant for the Center for Law, Tech, and Social Good at USF Law.
To get us started, picture this: we are chatting in an elevator together and I ask what your organization does. What is Coala Pay’s elevator pitch?
Coala Pay: Coala Pay was created by aid workers to address the challenges they face in delivering programs globally. Our user-friendly platform makes blockchain technology accessible to the international aid sector. Acting as a payment facilitator, we leverage public blockchain networks, smart contracts, and global offramp solutions to deliver last-mile aid faster, more efficiently, and with greater transparency, all while reducing costs.
Who is someone you admire and how do they shape the work you are doing at Coala Pay?
Coala Pay: We admire the front line responders working in conflict and crisis affected communities that put themselves at risk every day to deliver life saving humanitarian aid to people in need. These heroes can be found in places like Sudan, Myanmar, and Mexico, and they are the lifeblood of the international aid industry. However, all of the issues which can restrict access to financial services can exclude these actors from accessing safer payment systems. Coala Pay was built with the need to get more funding to front line responders, in a safer and more sustainable way.
If you could change one thing about blockchain technology, what would it be and why?
Coala Pay: The user experience continues to be a barrier to adoption for our clients and users. At times, Web3 products with silly names can be off-putting to actors moving public money into fragile and conflict affected environments.
You have five minutes with Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the presumed person/persons who developed bitcoin. What are you doing, and what is the one question you’d like to ask?
Coala Pay: Telling them ‘thank you’ for building a tool which has been used to protect and sustain human rights activists around the world. Then asking if they have any crucial insight about human behavior, rather than technology, that would help solve the last-mile adoption problem for vulnerable populations who could benefit most from financial sovereignty but still prefer familiar payment methods?
Now that we better understand your organization’s mission and theory of change, I must ask: but why blockchain?
Coala Pay: Traditional financial infrastructure was not built for international aid. We’re working across borders and moving money into places that already have very limited financial infrastructure. Blockchain’s decentralized nature offers transformative potential for the sector: it’s faster, cheaper, and, in some cases, more reliable than traditional banking. Blockchain’s immutability and traceability are key for foreign aid, enabling transparent and auditable transactions that meet the rigorous demands of compliance and reporting.
Coala Pay is on LinkedIn and Twitter. Follow them to stay up-to-date on their work.
