以太坊＋刷脸支付，约旦难民营里的区块链

Insidethe JordanRefugee Camp that Runs on Blockchain

摘自: MIT Technology Review

原作者: Russ Juskalian

图片来自MIT Technology Review, 版权属于原作者

A few times a month, Bassam pushes a shopping cart through the aisles of a grocery store stocked with bags of rice, a small selection of fresh vegetables, and otherstaples. Today he’s wearing a black sweatertuckedinto denim jeans, which are themselves tucked into calf-high boots caked in mud. The Tazweed Supermarket, where he’s shopping, is on theperipheryof a 75,000-person refugee camp in the semi-arid Jordaniansteppe, six and a half miles from the Syrian border.

每个月巴萨姆总会去几次杂货店，他推着购物车在店里穿行，这家杂货店里有大米，新鲜蔬菜和其他主食。今天他穿了一件黑色毛衣，把毛衣扎在牛仔裤里，又把牛仔裤腿塞在牛皮靴里，靴子上还粘着淤泥。他今天来的塔兹维德超市位于一个7.5万人的难民营周边，距离叙利亚边境6.5英里，是一片半干旱的约旦草原。

At the checkout counter, a cashiertalliesthe total, but Bassam doesn’t pay with cash or a credit card. Instead, he lifts his head to a black box and gazes into the mirror and camera at its center. A moment later, an image of Bassam’s eye flashes on the cashier’s screen. Bassam collects his receipt—which reads “EyePay” and “World Food Programme Building Blocks” across the top—and walks out into the noonday chaos of the Zaatari refugee camp.

在收银台，收银员清点完总价，但是巴萨姆既没用现金也没用信用卡，而是抬起头看着一个黑盒子里的镜头。接着巴萨姆的眼睛就闪现在了收银台屏幕上。他收好了超市收据（上面写着“眼睛支付“和“世界粮食署区块链项目”），然后回到了正午热闹的扎塔里难民营。

Though Bassam may not know it, his visit to the supermarket involves one of the first uses ofblockchainfor humanitarian aid. By letting a machine scan hisiris, he confirmed his identity on a traditional United Nations database, queried a family account kept on a variant of theEthereumblockchain by the World Food Programme (WFP) and settled his bill without opening his wallet.

然而可能巴萨姆自己也不知道，他的这次超市购物过程是区块链技术在人道主义救援上的首次应用。通过扫描他的虹膜，联合国数据库确认了他的身份，并取得了他的家庭账户，该账户被保存在联合国粮食署的以太坊区块链中，这样他无需打开钱包就能完成支付。

图片来自MIT Technology Review, 版权属于原作者

Started in early 2017, Building Blocks, as the program is known, helps the WFP distribute cash-for-food aid to over 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan. By the end of this year, the program will cover all 500,000 refugees in the country. If the project succeeds, it could eventually speed the adoption of blockchain technologies at sister UN agencies and beyond.

自2017年初以来，这一区块链项目协助联合国粮食署对约旦境内超过10万的叙利亚难民提供了“现金换食物”的援助。截止今年年底，该项目将会覆盖约旦境内所有50万难民。如果该项目获得成功，那么它最终将会促进区块链技术在联合国其他机构中的使用。

Building Blocks was born of a need to save money. The WFP helps feed 80 million people around the globe, but since 2009 the organization has shifted from delivering food to transferring money to people who need food. This approach could feed more people, improve local economies, and increase transparency. But it also introduces a notable point of inefficiency: working with local or regional banks. For the WFP, which transferred over $1.3 billion in such benefits in 2017 (about 30 percent of its total aid), transaction and other fees are money that could have gone to millions of meals. Early results of the blockchain programtouteda 98 percent reduction in such fees.

这一区块链项目的诞生是为了节约资金。联合国粮食署救助了全球8千万人口，但是自2009年以来，救助的方式已由发放粮食改为拨款救助。这样的救助方式首先可以喂饱更多人，其次能改善当地经济，还能提高救助透明度。可是通过地方银行转账很明显还是会造成某种程度的低效率。2017年，联合国粮食署共转账13亿美元用于该地区救助（占救助总额的30%），但是转账过程中所产生的交易费和其他费用很高，这部分钱如果能省下来的话也能提供数百万顿餐食。早期的数据显示，区块链项目的应用使得这类额外费用降低了98%。

今日新词：

staple

n. 主食

An important food that is eaten very often.

I need to buy some staples, like bread and milk.

我需要买一些主食，比如面包或牛奶。

Rice is the staple of their diet.

大米是他们的主食。

注：staple同样作为名词意为“订书钉”我们都知道，而在这篇文章中，staple有另外一个意思，即“主食”之意。

补充词汇：

tuck:(v.) 把...塞进

periphery: (n.) 外围

steppe: (n.) 干草原

tally: (v.) 计算；记录

blockchain: (n.) 区块链

Ethereum: (n.) 以太坊（一种虚拟货币）

tout: (v.) 招揽

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