Ripple donates $10 mn to Mercy Corps to accelerate financial inclusion in emerging markets

By Pavithra R

Ripple, an enterprise blockchain solutions for payments, has announced a $10 mn USD contribution to Mercy Corps to expand financial inclusion and increase economic empowerment globally. 

One of Ripple’s founding ideas is to expand global financial inclusion for everyone and not just those in wealthy nations. The existing financial system is largely antiquated, broken and poorly designed to serve the needs of emerging markets, which are often overlooked by financial service providers. With the pandemic driving increasing shift toward digital payments, the number of people without access to affordable financial services is escalating. 

Ripple, through Ripple Impact, partners with innovative NGOs, universities and industry partners to bring the 1.7 bn unbanked adults into a modernized, global financial system that leverages the promise of financial technology. This partnership marks an important milestone in Ripple’s long-term commitment to achieving global financial inclusion.

Mercy Corps is a global team of humanitarians, working together on the front lines of today’s biggest crises to create a future of possibility, where everyone can prosper. It is a proven NGO creating economic opportunities for vulnerable populations through the application of new and innovative technology. 

Mercy Corps Ventures by partnering with Ripple and Rippleworks, a nonprofit co-founded by Chris Larsen that supports social ventures across multiple sectors, missions to support solutions that leverage digital financial technologies such as cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers and digital assets to bring people in emerging markets into the global economy over a three-year initiative. Ripple and Rippleworks’ contribution will also support the launch of FinX, a joint initiative by Mercy Corps Ventures and Mercy Corps to reimagine the existing financial system and build a coalition to ensure the new system is inclusive for the un- and underbanked populations.

Both Ripple and Mercy Corp has been working together to define pilots and invest in early-stage FinTech startups in the Global South and Latin America. Ripple’s contribution will also be used to support the education of Mercy Corps’ field staff addressing the financial challenges faced in these regions and apply digital financial solutions. 

“The existing financial system is fragmented, antiquated, and exclusionary–leaving 1.7B people unbanked and disproportionately excluding women. Emerging fintech, crypto and blockchain technologies have the potential to radically transform it, but there are substantial risks for the world’s most vulnerable people if their needs are not taken into consideration as these new technologies are designed and deployed. We are going to leverage our global resources and reach to ensure community voices are heard and vulnerable populations are not left behind in the fintech revolution,” said Scott Onder, Senior Managing Director at Mercy Corps Ventures. 

Founded in 2012, San Francisco based Ripple provides a frictionless experience to send money globally using the power of blockchain technology. Recently, Cambridge Global Payments partnered with Ripple to speed cross-border payments.