Blockchain startup Ripple officially announces social impact program

Blockchain startup Ripple has officially announced its social impact program – Ripple for Good – which will focus on projects related to education and financial inclusion.

The company said that it is committing an additional $25 million in addition to the recent donations totaling over $80 million. It is currently in the process of assessing a number of high-quality projects to determine how these resources will be allocated.

“When we reflected on the unique role Ripple could play from a social impact standpoint, we kept landing on the idea that the benefits of these new technologies should reach as many people as possible,” said Ken Weber, Head of Social Impact for Ripple.

“If we are truly committed to transformative global change, we will work to help ensure that innovations in banking and global payments are available everywhere to everyone, among unbanked and underbanked populations and in economies and economic sectors that serve the greater good. Our goal is to deliver on the promise of an Internet of Value for all.”

Earlier in June, Ripple announced an initiative – University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) – to support academic research, technical development, and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital payments and committed more than $50 million to the initiative.

Ripple for Good will focus on applications and real-world use cases with the potential for scalable social impact. It will collaborate with RippleWorks, a nonprofit co-founded by Chris Larsen and Doug Galen that supports social ventures across multiple sectors, including financial inclusion and education.

Doug Galen, co-founder and CEO of RippleWorks, said that RippleWorks has worked on 70 projects in 55 countries to improve the lives of over 3 million patients, 6 million students, and 250 million people. Ripple For Good will build on RippleWorks’ experience addressing financial exclusion around the world.

“Today’s announcement to create an even deeper alignment with RippleWorks is another validation of Ripple’s long-standing commitment to leverage its technology, financial resources and team to improve lives. RippleWorks is thrilled to have even more of Ripple's help to solve the massive challenges facing people throughout the world,” Galen said.