Paycode Joins Algorand Foundation’s Humanitarian Aid Payments Council

On 9 & 10 September 2025, Paycode was proud to join global leaders in Berlin for the second meeting of the Humanitarian Aid Payments Council, convened by the Algorand Foundation.

The Council, founded in 2024, brings together humanitarian organisations, financial service providers, and technology innovators to tackle one of the world’s most pressing challenges: how to deliver humanitarian aid efficiently, transparently, and at scale, while staying connected to the realities of local NGOs and the communities they serve.

Driving innovation in aid delivery

Council members include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Circle, Worldpay, and MercyCorps Ventures, with new participants this year such as UNHCR, Mastercard, Paycode, Coala Pay, Meld, and Rahat. Together, the group explored how blockchain, digital identity and financial technology can work hand-in-hand to transform the aid value chain.

Algorand shared powerful examples of progress already underway: blockchain-powered aid distribution in Afghanistan and Syria, over 100,000 households served, and more than $20 million in funds disbursed in partnership with multiple UN agencies. Tools like the Aid Trust Portal (ATP) are now making aid payments trackable and transparent on-chain—offering donors, agencies, and regulators a new way to rebuild trust in humanitarian assistance.

Paycode’s perspective: Identity at the heart of aid

As part of the Council, Gabe Ruhan, CEO of Paycode, addressed one of the critical challenges in humanitarian contexts: identity. Millions of people in vulnerable communities lack recognised forms of identification, creating barriers to accessing aid, finance, and essential services.

Paycode’s biometric identity and payment technology provides a practical solution, ensuring that even people without traditional IDs or access to banks can be securely verified and paid - online or offline. At the Council, Gabe highlighted the intersection of identity, SSID (self-sovereign identity), and biometrics, exploring how blockchain-based digital IDs could protect vulnerable populations while enabling faster, fairer, and more secure aid delivery.

By joining the Humanitarian Aid Payments Council, Paycode is deepening its commitment to financial inclusion and humanitarian innovation. Together with Algorand Foundation and our fellow members, we aim to scale solutions that combine trust, transparency, and technology - so that aid reaches the right people, at the right time, in the most efficient way possible.

The next Council meeting will continue these critical conversations, but the real work begins now: moving beyond pilots to global scale, and ensuring that technology never loses sight of the people it is designed to serve.