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Austria’s First Transparent Donation System Token4Hope Launches Viable Application

  • Tuesday, February 19, 2019, 8:48 am
  • ACROFAN=Jae-Yong Ryu
  • jaeyong.ryu@acrofan.com
Token4Hope, the first completely transparent donation system running on blockchain technology, has successfully launched its functional application for the Austrian humanitarian organization, Wiener Hilfswerk. The platform aims to alleviate the trust issues pertaining to social impact funds and empower charities with transparency through DECENT's DCore blockchain. The project has already been fully implemented in two social markets and one second-hand shop operated by Wiener Hilfswerk.

The Token4Hope project launched as an implementation of the Humanity Token initiative back in November 2018 as a collaboration between HumanVenture, Collective Energy and DECENT. The initial aim was to provide simple, intuitive and transparent access to basic social needs for economically disadvantaged individuals in Austria. Token4Hope is a blockchain-powered application for charitable disbursements which enables charities to fundraise and turn the collected funds into tokens, designated as “T4H”. The tokens can be redeemed at participating stores by indigent family members or other individuals who can then purchase groceries and services. Since its inception in November, Token4Hope has collected more than 10,000 EUR in donations.

A basic demo of the Token4Hope application was showcased last year in December at a customer event and has been praised by the media for its charitable idea, originality, and innovative technical aspect. Since its initial launch earlier in February, the application is already up and running in Hilfswerk-operated stores in Vienna. The initial donations were evenly distributed among roughly 50 households participating in the project and disbursed as T4H tokens redeemable for goods in Hilfswerk-operated stores.

A transparent list of T4H transactions processed on DCore blockchain.

According to DECENT’s executives, the project has received only positive feedback from the charity and users, as well as, the stores involved. The stores, in particular, took a liking to the application for its intuitive user interface and seamless transactions. These are secured by DECENT’s proprietary blockchain platform, DCore, which makes all transactions completely transparent and visible to anyone through DECENT’s blockchain explorer.

“I am ecstatic that DCore is now able to provide a solution for those who are in need,” says Matej Michalko, CEO and Founder of DECENT. "The great thing is that the end users do not need to know anything about blockchain whatsoever, as it is running smoothly in the background to power the system. In the long run, this endeavor is sure to leave a massive footprint not only in Austria but also across the globe.”

Token4Hope has recently been honored with one of the most prestigious IT awards in Austria, the eAward 2019 for “Social Responsibility”. The jury praised the idea and technology behind it, stating (translated): “Seeing a growing technology like blockchain positively impact and propel such a noble goal is nothing short of significant. If blockchain manages to reliably secure invariable transparency for all donations, this will have an absolutely positive impact on how the public perceives charities and blockchain in the future.”

The Humanity Token initiative plans to further present Token4Hope to a broader audience in Austria at a launch event on March 28, 2019. The project has already received numerous offers from leading charity organizations from other German-speaking countries in the region.