All too often, the blowhards within the political establishment jump at any chance they get to smear blockchain technology and cryptocurrency—writing it off as a tool of criminals and black markets. However, nothing could be further from the truth. As the example from Venezuela below proves, blockchain technology is enabling a level of philanthropy unlike the world has ever seen.

Earlier this year, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said it was seeing clear signs of a growing malnutrition crisis in Venezuela, but it lacked data to give precise information and to tackle the problem effectively.

"While precise figures are unavailable because of very limited official health or nutrition data, there are clear signs that the crisis is limiting children's access to quality health services, medicines and food," UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva in January.