I-Corps Teams: Leaf Global Fintech: Virtual Banking Beyond Borders

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛影响是使一个服务不足的市场——难民？通过移动设备和区块链技术获得正规金融服务。通过该项目，难民将能够避免在逃离冲突时携带现金，保留通常在逃亡期间损失的储蓄，并创建一个经济身份，以便在一个新的国家建立自己的地位。跨境数字金融服务的成果包括：(1)难民将有更多机会获得资金，这对长期健康和教育产生积极影响；(2)难民将减少对东道国和外国援助的依赖；(3)跨境贸易将会增加，从而加强区域安全。这个项目的商业潜力很大，因为难民已被证明是商业银行的一个可行市场，但历来被排除在正式金融系统之外。在2018年全球被迫流离失所的6800万人中，60%的人即使没有智能手机也可以使用移动网络，这些移动网络为提供数字金融服务提供了基础设施。新的区块链技术使跨境金融服务变得有利可图，而以前的金额太小而无法盈利，从而向金字塔底层的个人开放了市场。I-Corps项目旨在解决如何利用现有移动网络和消费者行为模式在低技术环境中提供虚拟金融服务的问题。这项技术利用移动货币（一种在新兴市场普遍使用的基于美元的系统）作为客户的现金进出点。交易存储在透明（但去识别）的数字分类账上，可以安全地追踪跨境资产和法定货币。区块链技术为满足弱势群体的金融需求提供了新的途径，而低技术含量的前端则确保了在分销具有挑战性的环境中得到采用。客户使用自定义的USSD/SMS接口创建帐户、汇款保管、检查余额和跨境支付资金。客户身份管理使用生物识别技术，如面部和声音识别和PIN。这种与美元和区块链集成的跨境数字储蓄产品从未提供过。该平台可靠地连接身份，并提供资产存储和跨境运输的独特组合。跨境资金流动的数字化可以减少高达80%的盗窃和腐败。该项目旨在证明，通过移动网络基础设施提供的虚拟金融服务可以为历史上被排除在正规经济之外的人群带来新的机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is to enable an underserved market?refugees?to access formal financial services through a mobile device and blockchain technology. Through this project, refugees will be able to avoid carrying cash while escaping conflict, retain access to savings typically lost during flight, and create an economic identity to establish themselves in a new country. The results of cross-border digital financial services include: (1) refugees will experience increased access to funds, which positively impacts long-term health and education; (2) refugees will be less dependent upon host states and foreign aid; (3) cross-border trade will increase, thus bolstering regional security. The commercial potential of this project is large, as refugees have been proven a viable market for commercial banking but have historically been excluded from the formal financial system. Of the 68 million people forcibly displaced around the world in 2018, 60% have access to mobile networks that provide the infrastructure for offering digital financial services even without a smartphone. New blockchain technology makes cross-border financial services lucrative with amounts previously too small to be profitable, thus opening the market to individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. This I-Corps project seeks to address how to deliver virtual financial services in low technology environments using existing mobile networks and consumer behavior patterns. The technology utilizes mobile money, a USSD-based system common in emerging markets, as the cash-in and out point for customers. Transactions are stored on a transparent (yet de-identified) digital ledger that securely tracks assets across borders and fiat currencies. Blockchain technology presents new ways of meeting the financial needs of vulnerable populations, while a low-tech front-end ensures adoption in environments in which distribution is challenging. Customers use a custom USSD/SMS interface to create an account, send money for safekeeping, check balance, and disburse funds across borders. Customer identity is managed using biometrics such as facial and vocal recognition and a PIN. This type of cross-border, digital savings product integrated with USSD and blockchain has never been offered. The platform reliably links identity and provides the unique combination of asset storage and transport across borders. The digitization of cross-border money movement could reduce theft and corruption by up to 80%. This project seeks to prove that virtual financial services offered through mobile network infrastructure can bring new access to populations historically excluded from the formal economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.