The President’s Trust has joined forces with the charitable arm of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange to explore ways in which blockchain technology can be used in NGO settings.

A memorandum of understanding signed between the Trust and Binance’s newly created Blockchain Charity Foundation pledges to improve public awareness of blockchain technology, advocate about its use in humanitarian settings and implement pilot projects and other initiatives with a blockchain technology component.

The MOU, which President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca described as “the first of its kind in the world”, was signed at San Anton Palace on Wednesday.

President Coleiro Preca will chair the foundation’s senior advisory board, while UN Industrial Development Organisation goodwill ambassador Helen Hai will head the foundation. Both witnessed the signing.

“This will have a major impact on how social issues and charity work is done in future years,” President’s Trust trustee Michael Bianchi said.

Ms Hai said the Foundation would be addressing the most pressing social issues globally to contribute towards reaching the UN Agenda 2030 and its sustainable development goals.

A blockchain is an open, distributed ledger which is linked together through cryptography. Transactions recorded to the ledger cannot be erased or retroactively altered, and no single actor controls the blockchain.

The technology’s transparency make charity and philanthropy among the most exciting use cases for it.

Sarah Borda Bondin, who heads the Trust, said that through the use of blockchain technology the Trust could provide an innovative way of doing its work and addressing areas of inefficiency and lack of controls associated with traditional methods.

Mr Bianchi added that the Foundation and the Trust would kick-start their strategic collaboration with a project titled Educ8, which the Trust would coordinate with local NGOs to educate and empower youths to harness blockchain for sustainable development.