Recently the British Virgin Islands (BIV) – a part of United Kingdom Overseas Territory – has partnered with blockchain technology firm Lifelabs.io to develop a crypto-enabled payment for swift transfer of aid and access to funds in emergency scenarios, reported in a BVI government press release on April 18.

The press release outlined the significant advantages of the new payment platform compared with the previous one – Automated Clearing House (ACH) electronic payments. The Lifelabs’ blockchain “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) will reportedly reduce over 50% of the current transaction fees as well as speed up the average transfer time.

Founded in 20117, LIFElabs.io is a digital currency and tokenized reward system. It is the research and development hub responsible for LIFEtoken, LIFEwallet, LIFEcard, and LIFEPaaS – four distinct yet intrinsically linked products.

Under the partnership, island residents would be able to download the LIFEwallet app on their Apple iOS or Google Android mobile devices and access an account that can have funds deposited into it whenever a disaster strikes. For users without smart mobile devices, LIFE will provision for digital currencies to be sent and received via SMS.

BIV and Lifelabs.io have noted that the blockchain payments infrastructure will provide peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions allowing users to purchase crucial goods and services in case of emergencies or humanitarian crisis.

The British Virgin Islands has an estimated GDP of over $1 billion, and suffered damages in excess of $3 billion during hurricane Irma in 2017. The partners have therefore developed the BVI/Life Rapid Response Cash Fund in order to foster swift and efficient donations, ensuring that funds actually reach those in need.

Andrew Fahie — Head of government and Minister of Finance of the BVI, has commented that the crypto-enabled payments innovation “comes at a pivotal time for our people and our economy, while the memory of recent natural disasters remains fresh in our minds and hearts, and the pressure for increased economic efficiency keeps mounting.”

Blockchain has been previously reported to power donation and funding system in order to help the community. As reported by The Crypto Sight, cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance and global blockchain event BlockShow have created many crypto crowdfunding campaigns to raise crypto for the Notre Dame cathedral’s reconstruction, which suffered huge damage by a catastrophic fire on Apr 15.