Crypto for Good: Melyn McKay of Coala Pay On The Social Impact Projects Using Blockchain for Transparency and Equity
…Don’t fall into the intellectual trap of assuming something is being done badly simply because no one ever considered doing it better. I see so many teams turn up in the aid sector thinking they’ve discovered ‘this one easy trick,’ completely ignoring the 50–70 years of hard-won experience that explains why the system functions the way it does. Show some respect to the industry veterans and really listen when they voice concerns about risk. In our line of work, introducing a new solution without understanding the context can literally put people in the crosshairs. No technological innovation is worth putting a human life in harm’s way. If you don’t have the experience to anticipate those sources of harm, you have no business ‘disrupting’ an active aid response…
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Melyn McKay.
Melyn McKay (PhD) is the Founder and CEO of Coala Pay, a blockchain-enabled payment platform purpose-built for aid delivery. An anthropologist by training, Melyn holds an MSc and DPhil from the University of Oxford. Before entering the technology space, she spent over 15 years as a humanitarian advisor specialising in programme strategy within fragile and conflict-affected states, including South Sudan, Syria, and Myanmar. Since launching Coala Pay in 2023, Melyn has raised $4.3M from top-tier investors including Castle Island, Lattice Fund, and Commerce Ventures. A recognised thought leader on the intersection of technology and global aid, her insights have been featured in Foreign Policy, El País, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and Nikkei Asian Review.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
I’m definitely not your typical tech founder. I grew up in rural Utah and trained as an anthropologist at Oxford, so I didn’t come to blockchain with a background in finance or code. Instead, I spent 15 years working in humanitarian aid across fragile, conflict-affected states like Syria and South Sudan.
Can you tell us the story of how you got first involved in blockchain and the cryptocurrency industry?
The pivot to blockchain was born out of frustration and necessity: I was in Myanmar during the military coup and watched the banking system freeze overnight, cutting off funds to local partners and staff who were risking their lives. I realised that traditional banking rails were failing the people who needed them most. I founded Coala Pay to build ‘protection-informed’ finance rails, using Web3 technology to ensure that aid money can move safely and instantly, regardless of the chaos on the ground.
Can you share a story of a time when things went south for you? What kept you going and helped you to overcome those times?
I was recruited to run an office in Juba, South Sudan for two years. That plan evaporated overnight when civil war broke out. Most international staff were evacuated and I found myself stranded in London with a single suitcase and no idea if I would ever get back. The weeks that followed were harrowing — not because I was living out of a well worn North Face duffle bag and didn’t know when I’d see my rescue dog again — but because I was trying to coordinate the safety of our local staff and the closure of our office from thousands of miles away while the country fell apart.
I ultimately had to decide if I would relocate to Kenya or move to Beirut to work on the Syria crisis. I chose Beirut. I had been in East Africa for three years and was ready for a change, even if it wasn’t the one I expected. Witnessing the sudden unraveling of an entire country left scars that took a long time to heal, but what kept me going was the work itself. In our sector, you realise quickly that while your own plans might shatter, the needs of the people you serve don’t stop — so neither can you.
What are the 3 things that most excite you about the blockchain industry in general? Why?
- The reality check on financial privilege. It amplifies what human rights advocates in repressive regimes have known all along: if you don’t see the utility of a non-state-controlled currency, congratulations. You live in the slim sliver of the world where financial systems facilitate human flourishing rather than active surveillance. But as I’ve seen firsthand, political stability can evaporate overnight. Blockchain provides the necessary redundancy and resilience in payment systems that protect people when the state machinery turns against them.
- Democratising ‘institutional-grade’ finance. We can build sophisticated financial tools for people that traditional banks simply aren’t incentivised to serve. For instance, we can now safely fund a local youth group directly, providing them with the same fail-safes and compliance structures as a major NGO bank account, but with far greater accessibility. This allows grassroots organisations to build grant management experience and autonomy without jumping through exclusionary bureaucratic hoops.
- Radical transparency as a safety mechanism. The industry certainly has a perception problem, but I always remind people that the reason we hear about crypto scams is precisely because the ledger is transparent. For the aid sector, this visibility is a game changer. On legacy financial rails, we often don’t spot errors or fraud until it is far too late to fix them. With blockchain, we can monitor flows in real-time and course-correct immediately, ensuring funds actually reach their intended destination.
What are the 3 things that worry you about the blockchain industry? Why?
- Reputational contagion. The ‘guilt by association’ risk is significant. Philanthropy and aid rely heavily on trust, and I worry that legitimate, protection-focused projects will be lumped in with extractive Ponzi schemes or politicians using crypto as a black box for bribery. If we are tarred with the same brush as the speculative or fraudulent side of the industry, we risk losing massive efficiency gains simply because institutions are terrified of the optics of adopting blockchain technology.
- The volatility of infrastructure partners. We are likely entering a major period of consolidation. Consequently, choosing a technology or infrastructure partner right now feels a bit like being a Venture Capitalist in that you are trying to find partners that will still be solvent in 5–10 years. Building critical humanitarian rails requires stability, and the current churn makes long-term architectural decisions incredibly high-stakes.
- A baffling lack of professional urgency. Relatedly, there is a lack of hustle in the Web3 world that I find frustrating. The sector feels oversaturated with conferences and severely lacking in execution. I often see brilliant ideas die simply because teams are slow to respond, fail to follow up, or treat their startups like hobbies. The industry hasn’t fully professionalised yet, which makes it difficult to build a sustainable, high-impact business when you are accustomed to the urgency of crisis response.
Can you tell us the story behind your project and what inspired you to use blockchain technology for social impact?
The inspiration for Coala Pay wasn’t theoretical; it was born out of brutal necessity in Myanmar. When the military coup happened, the junta re-employed its decade’s old ‘Four Cuts’ strategy — essentially siege warfare banned by international law. It’s designed to cut communities off from essential goods and food. Because humanitarian aid alleviates that suffering, it directly undermines their strategy. Consequently, the military started surveilling international bank transfers to target aid organisations, accusing them of financing terrorism, and even seized USD directly from every day private citizens’ bank accounts.
Trust in the banking system evaporated instantly. Local partners and vendors told us point-blank: ‘Pay us in crypto.’ As an aid professional, my instinct was that the sector would never agree to that. But as an anthropologist, I knew I had to take the community’s reality seriously. I realised the barrier wasn’t the technology, but the compliance. Coala Pay was born from asking myself what a global INGO or UN agency would need to use these rails safely. We built the missing layer — the due diligence, reconciliation, and auditability — that allows massive institutions to bypass weaponised banking systems and get funds where they are needed most.
How does your project use blockchain or crypto to promote transparency, equity, or access in ways that traditional systems have not?
Traditional banking systems are built on exclusion; they function like ‘imperialist railroads,’ designed to extract value rather than deliver support. This architecture inherently biases against the Global Majority — flagging a Burmese name as ‘high risk’ or blocking transfers to conflict zones entirely. We use blockchain to bypass these structural inequities, creating neutral, protection-informed rails that ensure funds reach the intended recipient regardless of their location or political context.
Moreover, we leverage blockchain’s radical transparency to democratise access. In the legacy system, a small youth group in a fragile state is often deemed ‘unbankable’ because the compliance costs are too high. By moving these flows on-chain, we provide real-time, institutional-grade auditability for even the smallest grassroots organisations. This replaces the opaque ‘black box’ of correspondent banking with a transparent ledger, allowing us to spot errors immediately and giving donors the confidence to fund local first responders directly.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in building a socially impactful blockchain project, and how have you overcome them?
The sheer scale of the inertia we are fighting is the biggest hurdle. We are essentially rewiring the payment systems of massive organisations that manage nearly $1 billion in aid annually across 40 countries. The challenge isn’t that they don’t want the solution — in fact, users often tell us they are desperate for it — but they genuinely don’t know how to contract us. Their procurement systems simply don’t have a category for ‘blockchain-based settlement infrastructure’. Consequently, we aren’t just selling software; we are managing the entire systems change required for the aid sector to become blockchain-ready. This leads to excruciatingly slow sales cycles compared to a typical tech startup. We overcame this by securing investors who understood that this isn’t a quick SaaS flip. They recognised that in the humanitarian sector, staying power eventually equals success, and gave us the runway to guide these giants through the transition
In your view, what are the most promising use cases for blockchain in advancing global social good over the next 5–10 years?
- Unlocking ‘The Hidden Donor’. The most immediate promise is what we call ‘the hidden donor’ effect. By using blockchain to strip away intermediaries and FX fees, we are seeing an average 35–70% increase in the actual value of funds reaching the frontlines. When you combine that with settlement speeds that are 99% faster than traditional bank rails in our corridors, you aren’t just saving money, you are effectively discovering a massive new funding stream within existing budgets without asking donors for a single extra penny.
- Bridging Oracles and Anticipatory Action. I am incredibly excited about the role of Oracles in disaster risk reduction. We have piloted the release of funds triggered automatically by verified weather events, which is a total game-changer. It shifts the entire aid paradigm from reacting to damage that has already occurred to deploying capital for prevention the moment a risk is detected.
- Liberating Talent from Spreadsheets. Finally — and I know this sounds mundane — simply automating the accounting. Managing public funds across multiple currencies requires immense human effort to track every cent for taxpayer accountability. Blockchain automates this reconciliation perfectly. Nothing excites me more than the prospect of hiring more peacebuilding experts instead of forensic accountants. No one enters the humanitarian sector because they want to live in spreadsheets; this technology frees us to focus on the work that actually saves lives.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs or organizations who want to use blockchain for positive social change?
Don’t fall into the intellectual trap of assuming something is being done badly simply because no one ever considered doing it better. I see so many teams turn up in the aid sector thinking they’ve discovered ‘this one easy trick,’ completely ignoring the 50–70 years of hard-won experience that explains why the system functions the way it does.
Show some respect to the industry veterans and really listen when they voice concerns about risk. In our line of work, introducing a new solution without understanding the context can literally put people in the crosshairs. No technological innovation is worth putting a human life in harm’s way. If you don’t have the experience to anticipate those sources of harm, you have no business ‘disrupting’ an active aid response.
To aid organisations specifically: stop trying to tie implementation to fundraising. These are two fundamentally different functions. While they can eventually be mutually reinforcing, tethering the success of one to the other at the start inevitably delays both. Do not adopt blockchain technology because you think it will help you raise money — that is a distraction. Do it because it will help you save more of the money you currently manage, ensuring maximum impact for the resources you already have.
Ok, thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share “5 Things You Need To Use Blockchain For Positive Social Change”? If you can please share a story or example for each.
1. A deep understanding of the problem, not just the technology.
Too many people start with the blockchain ‘solution’ and go looking for a problem. In humanitarian aid, that is dangerous. You need to understand the systemic failures first. For me, that moment was in Myanmar. I realised that traditional banks function like ‘imperialist railroads’ — they are designed to extract value from the Global Majority, not deliver support to it. When the military coup happened, those rails were weaponised against us. If I hadn’t spent 15 years in the sector, I might have just built a crypto wallet. Instead, because I understood the specific pain of the ‘imperialist railroad,’ I built protection-informed settlement rails designed to bypass it.
2. A ‘Protection-First’ mindset.
In the social impact space, “move fast and break things” can get people killed. You need to prioritise the safety of the human at the end of the transaction above all else. I’ve seen how traditional bank transfers can create a data trail that oppressive regimes use to target local aid workers. When we built our solution, we didn’t just focus on speed; we focused on anonymity and security for the recipient. We use blockchain not to expose people, but to shield them — ensuring that a local first responder doesn’t have to choose between receiving funds to save their community and putting a target on their back.
3. Operational pragmatism over fundraising hype.
This is my golden rule for aid organisations: do not use blockchain because you think it will help you raise money. Do it because it will help you save the money you already have. We call this unlocking the ‘Hidden Donor.’ We’ve found that by stripping away intermediaries and FX fees using blockchain rails, we can increase the value of funds reaching the frontlines by 35–70%. That is the revolution. It isn’t about a flashy NFT fundraising campaign; it’s about the boring, back-office efficiency that discovers millions of dollars in your existing budget.
4. Humility before history.
Don’t fall into the intellectual trap of assuming a sector is broken simply because no one was smart enough to fix it before you arrived. There are 50–70 years of hard-won experience -and often blood — that explain why the aid sector functions the way it does. Show respect to the veterans and listen when they voice concerns about risk. I often see tech teams turn up thinking they have discovered “one simple trick” to fix aid. If you don’t have the experience to anticipate the sources of harm your ‘disruption’ might cause, you have no business operating in an active crisis response.
5. The patience for systems change.
If you want to use blockchain for social good at scale, you aren’t just selling software; you are rewiring the nervous system of massive, risk-averse institutions. We are working with organisations that manage close to $1 billion in aid across 40 countries. Their procurement systems didn’t even have a category for what we do. We had to guide them through the entire change management process, which meant accepting slow sales cycles and fighting for institutional-grade compliance. We were lucky to find investors who understood that in this sector, staying power equals success. You have to be willing to play the long game.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?
For me, bringing ‘goodness’ to the world isn’t just about the product we build; it is about the company we build. In the startup world, success is often measured by how hard you can grind your team. I decided to prove that you can build a high-growth technology company without sacrificing humanity.
When we were just a seed-stage company — a time when most founders are cutting costs everywhere — I made the decision to institute paid parental leave and transparent salary bands from day one. I did this because I know the data: women are often penalised financially for not ‘asking’ for more during negotiations, and I wanted to remove that structural bias immediately. I also actively sought to retain mothers, valuing the ruthless efficiency and emotional intelligence they bring to the workforce.
In our line of work, we are dealing with war, displacement, and trauma every day. I worry far more about my team burning out from caring too much than I do about them taking time off. My success is that I have created a ‘safe launchpad’ — a workplace where people feel supported, heard, and financially secure enough to do the hard work of changing the world.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favourite quote comes from the anthropologist Ruth Benedict: “The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human difference.”
This quote has become my north star as I navigate the intersection of humanitarian aid and technology. It frames my role not just as a founder, but as an amplifier for the most critical actors in our sector: the local first responders who are often marginalised by global systems. I view my work in blockchain through the lens of ‘harm reduction’, ensuring that the technology scaffolding our future is built to protect, rather than extract. We are constructing the financial infrastructure of tomorrow, and I feel a profound responsibility to lend my voice to those conversations, ensuring we build a world that supports human flourishing and is truly safe for difference.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow us on Linkedin! https://www.linkedin.com/company/coalapay/
Thank you for sharing these insights!
Crypto for Good: Melyn McKay of Coala Pay On The Social Impact Projects Using Blockchain for… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.