UN Cuts Pension Errors by 76% with Blockchain Overhaul

* UN white paper documents blockchain role in pension fund revamp. * Transition reduces inefficiencies, fraud, and costs for global beneficiaries. The United Nations highlighted blockchain technology as a transformative tool for its administrative operations, showcasing its effectiveness by overhauling the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF). On September 28, 2025, Cryptopolitan reported that the UN's overhaul of its 70-year-old system with blockchain-powered changes has cut inefficiencies, fraud, and costs, benefiting over 70,000 retirees globally. The UN developed the blockchain-based initiative to address significant inefficiencies in its decades-old, paper-based pension fund system. This legacy system was slow, expensive, and vulnerable to fraud, which impacted more than 70,000 beneficiaries across 190 nations. As a result, the outdated process caused the suspension of approximately 1,400 pension payments annually due to verification difficulties, creating further challenges for retirees. In 2020, the UN collaborated with the Hyperledger Foundation to kick off a pilot project, and this effort led to the comprehensive rollout of a blockchain-based digital certification system in 2021. The new “Digital Certificate of Entitlement” system significantly streamlined identity verification, reducing human errors, cutting fraud instances, and accelerating processing timelines. The white paper details specific benefits, including a 40% reduction in paper processing, a 95% decrease in archiving costs, and a 76.5% cut in overtime expenses. Sameer Chauhan, director of the United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC), emphasized the project's operational relevance. He stated that it provides "an operational model for how organizations across the UN family can collaborate to design secure, scalable, and inclusive digital public infrastructure." The UN plans to expand its use of blockchain technology across its agencies and will also advocate for broader global adoption of the technology as a "digital public good." The release of the white paper not only highlights blockchain’s effectiveness but also positions the technology as a scalable solution for inefficiencies in global governance systems. By transitioning to modern digital infrastructure, the UN aims to ensure transparency and reduce administrative burdens, while also improving service quality for beneficiaries and promoting inclusive technology access worldwide. Meanwhile, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $27,400.22 as of September 28 at 15:00 UTC. Its 24-hour trading volume had decreased by 4.1%. Over the same period, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $1,685.38, reflecting a 3.8% dip.