Gen C

Revolutionizing Aid: How Blockchain Is Fixing Broken Humanitarian Finance

Dr. Melyn McKay of Coala Pay explains how blockchain is transforming humanitarian aid by enabling instant payments in the world's most challenging locations.

Jun 16, 2025
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ABOUT

Dr. Melyn McKay brings 15 years of humanitarian aid experience to her role as founder of Coala Pay, a blockchain-based payment platform revolutionizing how aid money moves globally. In this conversation, she shares her journey from carrying cash in war zones to building technology that enables instant, transparent aid disbursements through stablecoins and smart contracts. McKay discusses the massive inefficiencies plaguing the traditional aid sector, the trust challenges preventing more direct giving and how Coala Pay is scaling across conflict zones to ensure aid funding reaches local partners safely and efficiently.

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"Gen C" features hosts Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.

HOST

Sam Ewen

Sam Ewen is CoinDesk's SVP, head of CoinDesk Social, Multimedia & CD Studios

Sam Ewen