RedChain: Spanish Red Cross Unveils Blockchain Aid System With Built-In Privacy Protection
Spain's Red Cross has introduced RedChain, a blockchain-powered humanitarian aid platform that enables donors to verify their contributions' impact through cryptographic evidence while keeping recipients' personal information completely anonymous.
Creu Roja, the Spanish Red Cross organization, has introduced RedChain, an innovative blockchain-powered platform for distributing humanitarian aid that delivers transparent, real-time verification to contributors while safeguarding the anonymity of assistance recipients.
In a statement provided to Cointelegraph, the organization revealed that the system was built in collaboration with BLOOCK, a Barcelona-headquartered infrastructure company, and Billions Network, which specializes in zero-knowledge credentials. The platform is designed to transform "the entire aid lifecycle from donation to disbursement" into a digital process.
The new system substitutes traditional paper vouchers and prepaid card systems with aid credits based on the ERC‑20 standard and issued on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. These credits are transferred to a mobile wallet application that beneficiaries can use to make purchases at partner retailers by scanning quick response (QR) codes.
Personal information about beneficiaries, such as their names, contact details, and case files, remains completely offchain within Creu Roja's private systems. The public blockchain serves exclusively as a verification mechanism, recording hashes, timestamps and transaction integrity proofs instead of any personally identifiable information.
RedChain aims to separate transparency from identity
Contributors and program administrators retain the ability to verify the timing and location of fund allocation and expenditure, while the architecture ensures that no individual or organization can piece together personal identities using onchain data.
In comments to Cointelegraph, a Creu Roja representative explained, "Donors can see aggregated, verifiable information on how funds are allocated and spent," including details such as the total amount distributed through a program and the timing of disbursements. Nevertheless, "what donors will never see are the identities of beneficiaries or their personal circumstances."
The representative emphasized that RedChain was "explicitly designed so that transparency applies to flows and outcomes, not to individuals," enabling the Red Cross to be "accountable to donors without compromising the privacy or dignity of its beneficiaries."
Humanitarian donors demand verifiable aid flows
The Spanish Red Cross positions RedChain as its answer to growing demands on humanitarian agencies to prove that assistance reaches its designated recipients without transforming vulnerable populations into exploited data subjects.
People seeking assistance shouldn't have to choose between getting help and protecting their privacy.
Francisco López Romero, CTO at Creu Roja Catalunya
Aid recipients obtain digital credits through a smartphone wallet application and complete purchases at regular retail locations, ensuring that transactions appear identical to conventional purchases and eliminating any outward indicators that would identify someone as receiving aid.
"We grant them credit, and they can purchase, in line with regulations, at the supermarket chain that adheres to our program," the spokesperson said. "No one can be excluded due to technical limitations."
Blockchain as a public notary for aid
RedChain operates on a hybrid trust architecture. ERC‑20 tokens serve as representations of distributed aid, while expenditure logs and eligibility verification processes stay within offchain databases that connect to onchain proofs.
BLOOCK characterizes its contribution as providing a "blockchain as a certification layer" framework, in which cryptographic anchors enable the detection of any tampering with internal records without ever making the underlying data publicly available.
Because every relevant state change is cryptographically anchored to a public blockchain, any post-hoc modification of internal records would immediately fail verification against the immutable onchain proofs.
Lluís Llibre, CEO at BLOOCK
According to his explanation, the blockchain essentially operates as a "public notary, confirming that an event occurred without revealing the content or the parties involved."
Billions Network, for its part, delivers the zero‑knowledge credential infrastructure that allows beneficiaries to demonstrate their eligibility or authorization without revealing their identity or personal characteristics. These proofs are stored in each user's personal wallet instead of being maintained in a centralized identity database.