LIFT Blog
Binance Charity — LIFT Initiative Award – Powered by Big Ideas
May 06, 2022
The Madojo team, (L-R) Daniel Huang, Victor Okoro and Joshua Iokua Albano, winners of the Binance-LIFT “Blockchain for Social Good” Grand Prize. (Credit: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering) “The other big winner of the night was the Madojo…
Pilot | Crypto wallet and remittance service for unbanked Venezuelan refugees | Medium
October 13, 2021
“Mercy Corps Ventures invested in Valiu in 2019 as their product has the potential to make a significant impact, by improving cross-border remittances, savings rates, and even financial inclusion. Now, Valiu and FinX are excited to announce a…
The AI-Bias Problem And How Fintechs Should Be Fighting It: A Deep-Dive With Sam Farao | Forbes
September 29, 2021
“Just a decade ago, both Artificial Intelligence and Fintechs were fairly new words to the technologically uninitiated. However, in the last decade, they have both had a profound effect on how business, financial transactions, and investments…
Why You’re Paying Bitcoin’s Energy Bill | Chicago Booth Review
September 13, 2021
“Millions of people who have neither mined nor traded a bitcoin are nevertheless paying for bitcoins to exist. That’s because the vast computing power needed to create new bitcoins consumes enormous amounts of electricity and has driven up…
CARE tests cryptocurrency vouchers for aid delivery in Kenya, Ecuador | Devex
August 13, 2021
“[CARE] has teamed up with the Lab for Inclusive FinTech, or LIFT, a soon-to-be-launched initiative of the Institute for Business and Social Impact at UC Berkeley, in its Kenya pilot. LIFT will carry out focus groups to better understand the…
CARE Launches 1st Crypto Voucher Pilots in Kenya and Ecuador | CARE
August 12, 2021
“Mindful of the risks and focused on the potential, CARE has launched two first-of-their-kind pilots, partnering with leaders in the cryptocurrency movement to deliver crypto-based vouchers to women and groups in Africa and Latin America. The…
Money Moves | Haas alumni ride the wave of fintech revolution | Haas Newsroom
July 13, 2021
“Fintech applications are increasingly disrupting many aspects of everyday life: from how we pay for our coffee to how we trade stocks and apply for a mortgage,” says Professor Paul Gertler, the Li Ka Shing Professor of Economics and faculty…
Testing financial innovations: Increasing loan repayment using digital collateral | VoxDev
June 18, 2021
“There is a general consensus that households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have insufficient access to credit. Twenty years ago, economists were optimistic that microfinance would fill this void, yet most of the evidence…
A New Approach to Lending in Low- and Middle-Income Countries | NBER
June 01, 2021
“While microfinance has not broadly succeeded in relaxing credit constraints for the poor in low- and middle-income countries, a new form of credit using “digital collateral” is effective, a study by Paul Gertler, Brett Green, and…
How Debit Cards Are Helping Low-Income Households Save – and Benefiting Their Neighbors Too | Qrius
April 22, 2021
“Economists and policymakers generally agree that a key component to alleviating global poverty is “financial inclusion.” The idea is that access to responsibly delivered financial services can improve the prospects and quality of life for…