What makes New Zealand an ideal test market for blockchain
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The implications of blockchain are far and wide and the impact it has on business, government and society are starting to become evident. A big opportunity lies ahead for New Zealand to build a collaborative economy based on privacy and fairness by harnessing the qualities that define us — innovation, entrepreneurism and the appetite to do things differently.
We’ve long been a test bed for new technologies
Since the late nineties, global tech giants have used New Zealand as a testing ground for cutting-edge technologies. Our relative isolation means the likes of Google and Facebook have been able to incubate products under the radar and soft-launch new technologies before rolling them out to international markets. This is a boon for innovations like distributed ledger technology which can be tested in a small market like New Zealand in a cost-efficient way before they’re rolled into production and scaled for global adoption. It also helps that New Zealanders readily embrace new ideas as well and show willingness to be part of something new.
We value fairness — so does decentralisation
Decentralisation is about giving people a better chance at competing and benefiting from the ecosystems that they’ve helped build. Instead of large corporates getting a disproportionate share of the value that’s created, the benefits are more fairly distributed with the community itself. That’s because an open data economy rewards people for participating in the economy, gives smaller startups a leg-up plus a greater chance of competing against big incumbents and allows peer-to-peer transactions without third parties clipping the ticket along the way. Because New Zealand society is centred around the principals of fairness and social justice, decentralisation naturally resonates with New Zealanders, making mass-adoption of distributed ledger technology all the more promising.
The New Zealand Inc approach bodes well
What an open data economy needs to succeed is a collective buy-in from government, industry and consumers. From startups and enterprise, government and public institutions, everyone needs to contribute for the network effect to kick in. Because an open network isn’t owned by a single entity, the collaborative nature of this technology means there’s an organic fit with the way we do business. If we leverage a ‘New Zealand Inc’ approach, we’ll be well-positioned to be a global leader of distributed ledger technology.
An open network suits our economic structure
Right now, we have an economy where winner takes all and companies are incentivised to maximise profit and market share — all at the expense of everyday people and small business owners. But profit doesn’t have to be concentrated as few hands as it is now. Decentralised technology can enable thousands of successful, smaller companies to run applications on a community-driven resource. With 90% of our GDP coming from small and medium-sized businesses, New Zealand is well suited for a collaborative economy, especially given our cultural resistance to large companies playing a zero-sum game.
We have an ideal regulatory environment
New Zealand has a reputation for being easy to do business in and fast to execute. We’ve got an opportunity to create protocols in New Zealand around things like self-sovereign identity, a single electronic health record, even currencies and export these products to the world. It helps that we have a great regulator here in New Zealand who is friendly towards blockchain and a government that values economic quality and greater participation in the digital economy.
There’s tremendous opportunity for New Zealand to be world-leading open data economy and encourage global adoption of a technology that can create a better future for everyone.
To stay up-to-date on the progress of Centrality’s ecosystem, follow us on Twitter and our Telegram Announcements channel, plus join our community on Centrality’s Official Telegram, Instagram, Reddit and Facebook.
