Using Blockchain to solve real‑world problems: How we created a payment system to aid refugees, in partnership with SDF and Aid Organizations
Stellar is making money more fluid and helping those who need it most.
Stellar, founded in 2014, aims to empower people and create more open markets by making money more fluid. Users can leverage Stellar to build, send, and trade digital representations of Bitcoin, U.S. dollars, real estate — virtually anything imaginable.
With the Stellar Aid Assist project, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is using the Stellar network and ecosystem to bring money to those who need it most quickly and cost-effectively.
For example, Stellar Aid Assist delivered digital aid to qualified Ukrainians in need and distributed it directly to their phones. It’s trusted and used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a U.N. agency working to protect and resettle refugees.
Cheesecake Labs helped Stellar build a stronger, safer, more effective version of their disbursement platform, letting them expand their reach and help people in need with blockchain technologies.
Project acclaimed by the market.
Winner of “Most Impactful Blockchain Project" at the Paris Blockchain Awards 2023
Winner of the "Best Innovation in Digital Currency" at the Currency Conference 2023
The Stellar Disbursement Platform hit a snag when opening up to multiple aid organizations.
Stellar was building the first version of its Stellar Disbursement Platform (SDP), which was already in use by the UNHCR. The SDP is a bulk disbursement tool that organizations can use to distribute funds to people and monitor those funds on the Stellar blockchain.
Stellar planned to extend this product to other Aid organizations but ran into an issue. The SDP was integrated with the Vibrant wallet, which supported only one SDP instance. And since each Aid Organization would have its own instance, that wouldn’t work.
So Stellar came to Cheesecake Labs for help. We worked with Vibrant to build support for multiple Aid Organizations.
Impressed by this success, Stellar planned to create a new version of the SDP that would reach more clients and use cases, not just Aid programs but any case necessitating disbursements to multiple recipients. But they needed help to unlock its full potential.
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We helped Stellar craft an award‑winning MVP.
Cheesecake Labs’ dedicated team used an extensive range of essential solutions to help Stellar succeed. We helped Stellar deliver a solid Minimum Valuable Product (MVP) that demonstrates the platform’s entire purpose and its new improvements.
The project was even awarded “Most Impactful Blockchain Project” at the Paris Blockchain Awards in 2023 and won “Best Innovation in Digital Currency” at the Currency Conference 2023.
We used many high-quality solutions while working on the platform’s backend, including a PostgreSQL database with Golang and Python (Django). External tools, like Circle and (of course) the Stellar Blockchain, proved essential to achieving the ideal outcome, too.
Revolutionizing humanitarian aid with streamlined blockchain payments.
And we’re not stopping there! In a new phase of the project, Cheesecake Labs will help Stellar reach a release candidate for this exciting project, so organizations across the globe can use it.
We’re so proud of this project that positions Stellar as an organization working to solve real-world problems with innovative blockchain technologies. Stellar is leveraging all the benefits of the blockchain to deliver the best solution for disbursing payments to refugees and people in need with a streamlined user experience.
Talk to us about your projectI am impressed at the enthusiasm, genuine care for the customer, and strategic thinking of the team. CKL is not your typical offshoring agency, in that they provide much value added services above and beyond delivering code. They were very helpful with providing insight, feedback, and a customer perspective on the products they were developing.
Karen Chang
VP of Engineering
