Stellar joins hands with United Nations to grant Ukrainian refugees with USDC

Stellar (XLM) and the rest of the crypto market suffered a major setback in February when Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, as the markets recovered, cryptocurrency has become an important means of transaction in Ukraine. Today, the United Nations (UN) and Stellar are leveraging this growth of crypto in the country to help its displaced citizens.

Stellar X United Nations 

Stellar Development Foundation partnered with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to initiate an aid program being piloted in the Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Kyiv and Vinnytsia. Through this program, the UN will be distributing cash in the form of USD Coin (USDC) to internally displaced individuals as well as those affected by the war.

The blockchain-based program will make use of Stellar-based Vibrant digital wallets, which is necessary for a recipient to be deemed eligible. The use of USDC over cash will allow recipients to travel across borders without going through the trouble of converting one country’s fiat to another. 

Through this program, the real-world use cases of cryptocurrencies would also come to light, although the debate of volatility cannot be factored here as stablecoins maintain a 1:1 value with USD. Commenting on the same UNHCR Representative to Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing stated,

“UNHCR has been collaborating for years with the tech sector, which has played a crucial role in helping us to innovate to deliver assistance faster, as speed is of the essence in humanitarian action.”

XLM price sinks further

XLM price observed no positive impact from the news of the aforementioned program as the cryptocurrency continued declining, trading at $0.0819. Over the last two weeks, the value of the altcoin has declined by almost 9%, invalidating all recovery achieved following the 28.38% crash of November 6.

XLM/USD 1-day chart

At the moment, XLM price is at the lowest it has been since November 2020, with no promise of recovery visible explicitly. If the cryptocurrency fails to witness bullishness from buyers, the price could decline further.