How Is Blockchain Technology Being Used By Public And Private Organizations?

Analysis of blockchain management may be broken down into two categories: governance of blockchains, which examines factors including networking rules and power structures, and administration by blockchains, which focuses on how blockchain technology can be used to enhance the decentralized, self-governing nature of provider enterprises. Distributed ledgers' potential uses in government administration have received less attention. Our analysis sheds light on how blockchains' decentralized and distributed characteristics allow them to link previously unrelated private and public entities to enhance the effectiveness and accountability of administrative processes. Most use cases for blockchain technology so far have not shown any significant benefits over more traditional methods of data storage and management. Our analysis also shows that blockchain technology has enormous promise for use in public sector governance, even though most current implementations have not progressed far beyond proof of concept. We finish by advocating for deeper study into why governments have not broadly adopted blockchains and for the creation of registries of public sector applications of blockchains, since none currently exist.

Applications of Blockchain Technology in Government

The governance implications of blockchain technology may be seen from a variety of angles. blockchain as a decentralized ledger, a distributed network, or a novel data store. Follow this!

The Tool of Liberty: Blockchain

An inherent skepticism in established governance institutions or a desire to flee from them underpins the view of blockchain as the latest tech of liberty. Blockchain's inherent honesty and integrity make it particularly well-suited when citizens distrust their government.

From this vantage point, blockchains provide some independence from an unreliable authority by providing an alternate means of verifying data. States who have digitally mastered their public services and possess elevated levels of validity and a character for dependability and openness may benefit less from implementing blockchain owing to the relatively greater expenses of managing blockchains employing the concept of blockchain bridge. Blockchain technology may provide a new kind of trusting infrastructure in the face of corrupt governments. Because governments' fiat currencies may be subject to central bank collusion or ineffective monetary policy, cryptocurrencies provide a unique chance for nations to experiment with new approaches to money.

Towards A Polycentric Blockchain-Based Enterprise

The second way to look at blockchain is as a multi-regional business. Smart contracts are a revolutionary component of blockchains because they make it impossible to change the conditions of an agreement after the fact. The reason this occurs is that agreement's terms are written into coding and prompted to be carried out by information that can't be changed by the participants in the contract. In this respect, blockchains, particularly public or private blockchain networks, provide end-to-end contracts. Because blockchain activities are often irreversible, distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs) significantly minimize dependence on conventional company law or reliable third parties.

Blockchains, despite their innovative features, are subject to regulations imposed from outside. Institutions with a polycentric structure are layered inside hierarchical ones. Arguments concentrated on what the legislation regulating innovative methods should look like, even though initial internet and telecom companies were typically self-governing.

Blockchain: A Novel Type of Database

A further perspective considers blockchain to be an innovative kind of database. Blockchain indeed offers a different set of benefits than other ledgers have, but at its core, it's still just a database. The state's information might be replicated on the blockchain, making the state's data management system more secure. When thinking about the database perspective in the framework of public domain administration, it's crucial to understand what it represents in comparison to earlier databases. 

Blockchains in the Business Sector

Personal Information

Numerous individuals' private details are recorded by government agencies. Hackers often target personally identifiable information to get access to the advantages associated with it via fraud or exploited access keys. Blockchains provide the possibility of autonomous identification in settings where security is a concern or when governments could not be trusted with such data. Our research makes it clear that governments or other trustworthy third parties must play a significant role in authenticating personal data stored in distributed systems. 

Public Sourcing

One additional area where blockchains have been adopted and show potential for development is in the fight against corruption in public procurement. As a means of improving the transparency and effectiveness of government expenditure, governments are increasingly turning to outsource. Because of the increase in outsourcing, more chances for bribery have arisen.

Distributed Networks for Public Sector Service Provision

Grants are often distributed by governments, although such funding is sometimes prone to incompetence and, in certain cases, corruption. In addition to lowering service quality, excessive paperwork may slow down service delivery. Rises in expenditure during times of crisis may lead to problems like corruption (the manipulation of public money for private benefit) and fraud (the loss of cash by people). Tornadoes, for instance, often uproot people, who might just afterward lose contact with their official identity documents. There has already been greater experimentation with delivering public services in the realm of procurement, but this is not the case in delivering services, where technologies are still being adopted.

Public Health

Since not all stakeholders are utilizing the same data system, the decentralized and distributed nature of blockchain makes it an appealing alternative in public health. A problem with disinformation and the necessity to integrate data on vaccinations were brought to light by the recent coronavirus epidemic, highlighting the significance of public confidence in public health interventions. To better record and communicate information about medical studies, test data validation, etc., blockchain might be used.

Public Finance

In the realm of taxation, nations have made notable strides in adopting blockchain-based alternatives. Verifying taxpayers and their economic activity and property are essential for effective tax collection. Corruption and bribery add to the flaws already present in the tax system. Evidence of tax benefits from small-scale applications is promising. Revenue, transactions, corporate, and wealth taxes all add another level of complexity to the tax system. Charities are exempt from these requirements. While blockchain was already effectively applied for certain sorts of transactions, this has not yet been done for all taxation systems. Blockchain-based currencies (cryptos) or tokens have received widespread acceptance from large businesses as a form of payment, and platforms like Bitcoin Prime have performed a crucial role as trustworthy mediators in this development.

Democracy

Voting systems are another use case for blockchain technology. Voter fraud is an issue that has plagued democratic political systems. Blockchain has the potential to enhance democracies by giving an irreversible log of votes and facilitating more reliable and secure authentication of voters, which would lead to more trustworthy elections, more reliable voter registrations, and less tampered elections.

Conclusion

Blockchain is the first functional distributed ledger, with the potential to facilitate commerce between people and organizations without requiring a central authority. The most important takeaway from our assessment is that blockchains provide prospects for practically all areas of public administration; this would not be obvious from any particular examination of blockchain applications to the government in a single domain (such as voting). The research we conducted also shows that governments may employ blockchains to create a more secure economic foundation.