Tag Archive for: wallet

VIA Expands Partnership with Hope for Haiti to Power Secure Stipend Payments for Vulnerable Families, Community Workers

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Expansion builds on ongoing nutrition program, strengthening secure, digital payments for community workers in bandwidth-constrained environments

BOSTON, MA, March 26, 2026 – VIA Science, Inc. (VIA) today announced the expansion of its partnership with Hope for Haiti, a nonprofit providing healthcare, education, clean water, and economic development opportunities to individuals in Haiti, to support monthly stipend payments for food-insecure families, staff members, and community workers advancing humanitarian initiatives across southern Haiti. 

The expansion builds on the ongoing rollout of VIA’s secure, cashless aid program, which is delivering more than $200,000 in nutritional support to 325 mothers. With stipends already underway for Hope for Haiti’s internal staff and now extending to additional community workers, VIA’s technology is helping to streamline aid operations in low-bandwidth and infrastructure-constrained environments. 

“Modern humanitarian work demands safe, efficient systems, and VIA’s technology helps us deliver stipends in a way that improves security, simplifies operations, and keeps our team focused on serving communities across southern Haiti,” said Skyler Badenoch, CEO of Hope for Haiti. “Together, we’re building the infrastructure to scale our programs and reach more families with greater speed and accountability.” 

Using VIA’s ultra-secure, smartphone-based application, stipends are delivered digitally, reducing the risks associated with cash distribution while increasing transparency and administrative efficiency. 

“Humanitarian organizations operate in environments where infrastructure is often unreliable and security risks are real,” said Kate Ravanis, COO and co-founder of VIA. “We build technology for precisely those conditions. Expanding from direct family support to stipends demonstrates how secure, resilient financial infrastructure can strengthen not only aid delivery, but the organizations delivering that aid.” 

The stipend expansion represents the next step in VIA’s broader mission to deliver ultra-secure, ultra-simple technology that performs reliably in disrupted environments, supporting both vulnerable populations and the trusted aid organizations working on their behalf. With increasing interest from international organizations, VIA is exploring expansion into additional countries where secure, transparent digital infrastructure can strengthen humanitarian operations.

About VIA
VIA is the trusted Web3 technology partner to the Pentagon and Fortune 100 companies around the globe, driven to make mission-critical digital assets accessible anywhere, anytime, through ultra-secure, ultra-simple technology. Backed by 20 issued patents, VIA’s quantum-resistant, passwordless, military-grade technologies safeguard customers’ most valuable digital assets from human and AI agent threats. Learn more at www.solvewithvia.com.

About Hope for Haiti
With experience running poverty alleviation programs in Haiti since 1989, Hope for Haiti has emerged as one of the most trusted non-profit organizations working to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly women and children, in southern Haiti. The organization’s team and network of partners provide people with better access to education, healthcare, clean water, and economic development opportunities. Hope for Haiti is a 4-star-rated charity by Charity Navigator and is a participant at the Platinum Level in the GuideStar Exchange, two leading independent evaluators recognizing the organization’s transparency and careful stewardship of donor resources. Learn more at hopeforhaiti.com.

For media inquiries, contact:

Invariant
viacomms@invariantgr.com
(847) 308-0545

VIA and Kura Apply Zero Trust Technology to Safeguard Donor Funds Sent to Haiti

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VIA’s technology secures payments sent through Kura’s merchant remittance and disbursement network to beneficiaries in Haiti while also reducing fraud

Boston, MA – January 14, 2026 – VIA Science, Inc. (VIA) today announced a partnership with Kura Technologies Inc. (Kura), a Boston-based financial technology company, to support safer, more secure cross-border payments to beneficiaries in Haiti while also reducing fraud. By integrating VIA Zero Trust Fabric (VIA ZTF) and ultra-secure, ultra-simple wallet technology with Kura’s merchant remittance application, individuals and organizations can send funds to relatives and other beneficiaries for use at local merchants in Haiti, rather than transferring cash directly to recipients.

This collaboration expands upon the Stellar Development Foundation and Hope for Haiti initiative, which delivered over $200,000 in safe, cashless aid to mothers facing financial hardship using VIA’s wallet technology.  

Beginning in January, Kura will integrate with VIA ZTF, expanding their currently supported merchant payment flows to include stablecoins disbursed through VIA’s wallet technology. Kura’s technology establishes a flow of funds directly to vetted merchants, rather than individual recipients. Instead of cash, recipients receive a credit to purchase food and other necessities at the point of sale, requiring only SMS or text capability. Merchants are then able to verify balances and complete cashless transactions. 

This integration provides a seamless, end-to-end digital financial solution to distribute financial aid while reducing fraud and physical risks associated with carrying, storing, or redistributing cash. The approach ensures funds are received by merchants with reduced fraud and fees, which reportedly impact merchant profits by 15% to 20%. Stablecoins mitigate ongoing concerns in environments where financial stability and physical security are not guaranteed. This delivers aid and personal transfers to those who need them most, safely and transparently. 

“Today’s geopolitical environment is fraught with risk when it comes to dispersing financial aid,” said Colin Gounden, Co-Founder and CEO of VIA. “This partnership will provide peace of mind to individuals supporting those in need abroad that the funds will reach the intended recipient for critical goods – safely, securely, and with greater transparency.” 

“Our focus has always been on helping people provide support to their loved ones without exposing them to unnecessary risk,” said Stephanie Joseph,  Co-founder and CEO at Kura. “VIA’s secure, enterprise-grade stablecoin disbursement capabilities, paired with Kura’s vetted merchant networks and digital payment tools, create a trusted distribution layer that reduces fraud and risk while remaining practical for last-mile recipients.”

Built on VIA ZTF, the integration will use VIA’s technology to support secure, passwordless authentication for Kura’s remittance flows, the same technology used by warfighters and other operators in contested and disrupted environments where internet and electricity are unreliable. 

About VIA
VIA is the trusted Web3 technology partner to the Pentagon and Fortune 100 companies around the globe, driven to make mission-critical digital assets accessible anywhere, anytime, through ultra-secure, ultra-simple technology. Backed by 19 issued patents, VIA’s quantum-resistant, passwordless, military-grade technologies safeguard customers’ most valuable digital assets from human and AI agent threats. Learn more at www.solvewithvia.com.

About Kura 
Kura supports cross-border payments—including B2B aid disbursements, merchant payments, remittances, and trade—in markets where traditional payment rails are limited or unreliable. Its compliance-first infrastructure enables secure and transparent money movement into last-mile markets across the Caribbean and Central America.

For media inquiries, contact:

Invariant
viacomms@invariantgr.com
(847) 308-0545

VIA and Stellar Development Foundation Collaborate with Hope for Haiti to Deliver Safe, Cashless Aid

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The program with Hope for Haiti will deliver over $200,000 in nutritional support to mothers through VIA’s ultra-secure, ultra-simple technology

Boston, MA – December 17, 2025 – VIA Science, Inc. (VIA) today announced a collaboration with the Stellar Development Foundation to support the disbursement of aid through Hope for Haiti. Hope for Haiti is a nonprofit working to alleviate poverty in southern Haiti for mothers facing financial hardship, and caring for children in need of nutritional assistance. Through this collaboration, mothers will receive funds, as stablecoins on the Stellar network, directly to a VIA app on their smartphones, eliminating the need for, and reducing the risks, that often come with carrying cash.

This six-month program will distribute more than $200,000 to 325 mothers connected with Hope for Haiti through their nutritional programs. Each participant will receive a monthly stipend of $100, which can be cashed out, transferred to other individuals, or used at multiple merchants in Haiti through VIA’s technology.

“Cash has traditionally been a common way to deliver aid in Haiti, but it can create safety risks and limit transparency,” said Skyler Badenoch, CEO of Hope for Haiti. “With VIA’s technology, we’re able to deliver support more securely, efficiently, and transparently, getting resources directly to the families who need them most.”

VIA’s technology will distribute the funds as a cryptocurrency called USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars and regulated under U.S. financial laws, offering reliability and protection from the volatility typically associated with other cryptocurrencies. To receive or use funds, both recipients and merchants only need a smartphone less than 10 years old.

“Limited access to traditional financial systems creates significant obstacles for humanitarian aid delivery,” said Candace Kelly, Chief Legal and Policy Officer for the Stellar Development Foundation. “By leveraging the Stellar network, organizations gain end-to-end transparency and can transfer funds directly to recipients, minimizing the risks inherent in cash-based operations. Combined with VIA’s ultra-secure technology, we ensure reliable and efficient delivery of assistance to communities in need.”

In addition to providing greater transparency, VIA’s technology has been designed for disrupted environments like active war zones where internet and electricity are unreliable, making it well-suited for the challenges of delivering aid in Haiti. This enables offline payments, meaning participants can use it to pay for goods or services, regardless of connectivity. 

“When someone is trusting our technology instead of carrying cash or a credit card, it has to work every time. That’s why our technology is built on military-grade capabilities that are designed to perform in the harshest, often deliberately disrupted environments,” said Colin Gounden, co-founder and CEO of VIA. “Our goal is to make tools that work reliably wherever people need them, because their safety and well-being depend on it. Supporting families in Haiti is a natural extension of what drives us at VIA. We build secure, human-centric technology that’s accessible to those who need it, when they need it.”

Over the past decade and beyond, Haiti has received significant aid from the international community due to natural disasters and social and political unrest, underscoring the importance of ensuring assistance reaches those who need it the most and making this collaboration a strong model for how secure, cashless technology can deliver support more safely, reliably, and transparently, to everyone, especially the unbanked. The success of this program has the potential to shape how future aid programs scale to better protect and empower the most vulnerable populations.

About VIA
VIA is the trusted Web3 technology partner to the Pentagon and Fortune 100 companies around the globe, driven to make mission-critical digital assets accessible anywhere, anytime, through ultra-secure, ultra-simple technology. Backed by 19 issued patents, VIA’s quantum-resistant, passwordless, military-grade technologies safeguard customers’ most valuable digital assets from human and AI agent threats. Learn more at www.solvewithvia.com.

About Stellar Development Foundation
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting changemakers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else. For more information, visit https://stellar.org/foundation.

About Hope for Haiti
With experience running poverty alleviation programs in Haiti since 1989, Hope for Haiti has emerged as one of the most trusted non-profit organizations working to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly women and children. The organization’s team and network of partners in southern Haiti provide people with better access to education, healthcare, water, and economic development opportunities. Hope for Haiti is a 4-star charity by Charity Navigator and a participant at the Platinum Level through the GuideStar Exchange, two leading independent evaluators recognizing the organization’s transparency and careful stewardship of donor resources. To learn more: www.hopeforhaiti.com.

For media inquiries, contact:

Invariantviacomms@invariantgr.com(847) 308-0545