With many enterprises experimenting to find the suitable use of blockchain for their business, the promise of this Distributed Ledger Technology has swept the social impact world in the last 5 years. These innovators are new startups, ventures and initiatives that are digging deep into the rabbit hole of blockchain. We term them as ‘organizations’ in this document. Stanford Graduate School of Business conducted a survey through phone interviews with C level executives at 110 organizations, to better understand the different ways through blockchain may be used for social impact. The findings were astonishing and we will further discuss about it in this document.

1. S O C I A L
I M P A C T O F
B L O C K C H A I N
N O V . 2 0 1 9
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U

2. With many enterprises experimenting to find the suitable use of blockchain for their business, the
promise of this Distributed Ledger Technology has swept the social impact world in the last 5 years.
These innovators are new startups, ventures and initiatives that are digging deep into the rabbit hole
of blockchain. We term them as ‘organizations’ in this document.
Stanford Graduate School of Business conducted a survey through phone interviews with C level
executives at 110 organizations, to better understand the different ways through blockchain may be
used for social impact. The findings were astonishing and we will further discuss about it in this
document.
In this report, we have focused on the following sectors:
• Financial Inclusion
• Climate and the Environment
• Agriculture and Land Rights
• Governance and Democracy
• Digital Identity
This variation in the sampling is not indicative of larger industry trends.
S U M M A R Y
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U

3. Payments & Money transfers,
,Platforms and Marketplaces
makes another 40% of use
case.
Rest is Supply Chain
Management & Smart
Contracting, while Smart
Contracting makes only
1.8% of the use case, as
reported by the
organizations
Organizations have found that
that blockchain is a reliable
and accurate way to address
the challenges of records and
verification, approximately
47.3% of organizations
cataloged in this report use
blockchain primarily for this
purpose only.
It was also found out that of
110 organizations interviewed,
40.9% reported that they use
Ethereum based solutions,
while while 10% report
using Hyperledger, 8% report
using Bitcoin.
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
H I G H L I G H T S
47.3%
organizarions
use blockchain
for Records &
Verification
13.6%
organizarions
use blockchain
for Platforms &
Marketplaces
47.3%
13.6%
organizarions
use blockchain
for Payments
& Money
Transfers
13.6%
26.4%

4. E t h e r e u m w a s m o s t c o m m o n a m o n g
t h e s a m p l e s , b u t t h e l a n d s c a p e i s
f r a g m e n t e d .
1 4 % o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n s u s e o t h e r
b l o c k c h a i n s - C o r d a , C o s m o s ,
S t e l l a r E O S , R i p p l e & P e n t a G l o b a l

5. Majority of the executives reported
about the positive impact of blockchain
in their social impact goals
V A L U E - A D D O F
B L O C K C H A I N
Organizations also reported that launching their own
blockchain operations was more difficult than anticipated.
policy reform could lower the threshold for blockchain-
based innovation in the social impact space
51.9% 41.7% 6.5%
said
blockchain is
a necessity for
solving their
problem
said
blockchain in
improvement
over other
methods
said
blockchain is
just a way to
solve the
problems

6. United Nations identified financial inclusion as as an enabler for seven
out of the 17 sustainable development goals
28 organizations that are committed to using blockchain for financial
inclusion across the world were interviewed and it was found out that
39% of the cataloged organizations use blockchain for payments and
money transfers. The biggest motivation to use blockchain is for low-fees
transactions, especially cross-border.
A working example would be Wala, a fintech company that operates in
Uganda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. They have built a mobile platform
that is a works the same as a traditional bank account, but the user
experience is as seamless as Telegram or Facebook. Blockchain allowed
Wala to target users that do not have any access to banks and are
unbanked. Storing and transferring of funds are now secure and quick.
About 36% of organizations use blockchain for platforms and
marketplaces.
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
F I N A N C I A L
I N C L U S I O N
Payments & Money
transfers
39.3%
Platforms & Market Places
35.7%
Record & Verification
21.4%
Smart Contracting
3.6%
Close to
one-third
of the
world’s
adults
(approxi
mately
1.7 billion
people)
are still
unbanke
d, and
millions
more are
underban
ked
Financial Inclusion Use Cases

7. 4 8 % O F T H E O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
S E E B L O C K C H A I N A S A N
I M P R O V M E N T O V E R O T H E R
M E T H O D S
4 8 % O F T H E O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
A R E U S I N G E T H E R E U M
S E V E R A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
R E P O R T E D R E A C H I N G O V E R
1 0 0 , 0 0 0 P E O P L E
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Supply Chain Management
Record & Verification
Platforms & Market Places
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
A G R I C U L T U R E
A N D L A N D
R I G H T S
Most of the organizations
surveyed reported that they
use blockchain mostly for
supply chain management
and for records and
verification.
In developing there is a huge
problem of lack of and registry
or rights, and the blockchain
technology is proving its
grounds by addressing this
issue.
In agriculture, this technology
is helping the farmers to gain
better access to the market by
obtaining more accurate
information.
Blockchain also enhances the
organization's ability to track
the food from farming to
consumption.

8. One company interviewed, Lition, allows its users to buy and sell
electricity and gas from local sources on its platform.
With blockchain decentralized platforms can be introduced to improve
the efficiency of existing grids as in order to reduce environmental harm
each year, this sector processes millions of transactions to trade and
distribute energy.
Microgrids may also be created with the help of blockchain as this
technology can also facilitate peer-to-peer energy transmission. One
company interviewed, Lition, allows its users to buy and sell electricity and
gas from local sources on its platform.
Introduction of tokens and exchange markets can be introduced to
incentivize consumers to reduce carbon emissions. One participating
organization, Omega Grid, allows users to earn rewards for using clean
energy sources.
Several organizations reported reaching 1,001–10,000 people so far
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
C L I M A T E &
E N V I R O N M E N T
Platforms & Market Places
62.4%
Payments & Money
transfers
18.8%
Smart Contracting
6.3%
Record & Verification
6.3%
Over
half of
the
organiz
ations
cited
regulat
ory
issues
as their
biggest
challen
ge
Climate and Envirnment Use Cases

9. Malta is the first European country to issue its education certificates and
diplomas on blockchain
Personal online identification for refugees
Government-level certification of education credentials
Verifying charity donations etc
There are several applications of blockchain in digital identity such as :
The Malta government has joined hands with Learning Machine to help
issue its tamper-proof education certificates and diplomas on blockchain
using Blockcerts technology.
An ethereum-based blockchain startup, SkillZ, helps workers store their
work experience certification, biometric data and identification on
blockchain. Workers now have a system that enables them to transfer
their tamper-proof work credentials, that can be used by subsequent
employers. On the other hand, another ethereum-based startup, Alice, is
aiming to incentivize social impact organizations to become more
transparent by ensuring that these organizations get paid more when
they achieve their stated goals.
55% of the companies use Ethereum for their digital identity solutions,
15% use IBM’s Hyperledger Fabric, 10% use Bitcoin, and the rest reported
using multiple blockchain technologies or their own custom solution.
Three companies in the Digital Identity sector raised $40 million through
an initial coin offering. There is some institutional exposure in the digital
identity sector as the companies and projects in this sector have pivoted
from seed level financing to more advanced stages of financing.
55% of the companies stated that regulatory issues are their biggest
challenge.
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
D I G I T A L
I D E N T I T Y
Three
compan
ies in
the
Digital
Identity
sector
raised
$40
million
through
an
initial
coin
offering.

10. Companies are helping to manage voter identification and the integrity
of the vote at all levels, ranging from general elections to union voting to
shareholder meetings
Blockchain-based voting systems promotes inclusivity, security, and
transparency. These systems eliminate the need of central authority to
administer them and hence reduces corruption. Many companies are
researching blockchain systems to come up with a viable open source
voting platforms, allowing anyone to audit them.
There are blockchain-like systems being used by governments manage,
transmit or verify citizen's data without viewing the underlying
information (called “zero-knowledge proofs”).
62.5% of the companies are using blockchain for records and verification.
Companies like Smartmatic, Horizon State, Votem, and Voatz are working
to manage the integrity of vote at all levels, and also manage voter
identification. Solutions are for general elections to union voting to
shareholder meetings.
75% of the companies are witnessing the impact of introducing
blockchain as their systems, while several reported that they have
reached millions of people through partnerships and governments.
Some companies cited recent events — such as the 2016 U.S. election — as
leading to greater distrust in emerging technologies and said they are
having a difficult time convincing citizens that blockchain is a secure
solution
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
G O V E R N M E N T S
& D E M O C R A C Y
Some
companies
cited recent
events —
such as the
2016 U.S.
election —
as
leading to
greater
distrust in
emerging
technologie
s and said
they are
having a
difficult
time
convincing
citizens that
blockchain
is a secure
solution

11. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
B l o c k c h a i n t e c h n o l o g y h a s a w i d e v a r i e t y o f
u s e c a s e s a n d h a s a p o t e n t i a l t o c a t e r
s e v e r a l i n d u s t r i e s a c c r o s s s e v e r a l s e c t o r s ,
a l t h o u g h t h i s t e c h n o l o g y i s s t i l l n e w a n d i s
c u r r e n t l y u n d e r d e v e l o p m e n t f o r e n t e r p r i s e
l e v e l s o l u t i o n s . H o w e v e r , i t i s e x c i t i n g t o
s e e i t s c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o e n h a n c e o p e r a t i o n s
i n s e v e r a l s e c t o r s - b e i t D i g i t a l I d e n t i t y ,
f i n a n c i a l i n c l u s i o n o r t h e d e m o c r a c y .