the idea of donating directly to people in need is very attractive
GiveDirectly are world-class experts in efficiently transferring money to people in extreme poverty who need it most, including validation and ensuring that it arrives in a useful (i.e. spendable) form. https://donate.givedirectly.org/ accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, and even Dogecoin.
I wasn't aware that GiveDirectly accepted crypto (despite donating to GD on a regular basis). Brilliant to see. Thanks for sharing, Zac.
I have been doing a lot of research on the human rights potential of peer to peer transactions and examining recent use cases in the likes of Nigeria, Belarus, Iran, Palestine, and Argentina. Considering the decreasing marginal utility of fiat currency donations to established aid organisations (e.g. bottlenecks, bureaucratic inefficiencies) the idea of donating directly to people in need is very attractive, especially where they may be the subject of capital controls or frozen bank accounts due to political/monetary tyranny.
I'm wondering if there is a mechanism or an organisation verifying the identities behind public key addresses on the blockchain in order to provide comfort to donors that their direct peer to peer transaction is going to worthy recipients. The identification process would only need to verify the needful legitimacy of the recipient, rather than reveal personal details that may compromise their safety/security.
It's a project I would like to work on and contribute to.