Where can Blockchain be used? Part 3: Public Sectors
By Blockbuster Blockchain on Altcoin Magazine
In the other articles of this series, we looked at how blockchain technology can be used in personal daily lives and in different industries. The third main actor in contemporary society is the central government body. While protection of privacy was the biggest advantage of using the blockchain technology for individuals, the greatest perk for government agencies would be its transparency. While the citizens of a country have the responsibility to participate in politics by showing their support, the government has the responsibility to take care of its constituents. It has to seek for development and provide the best possible living conditions for the people. This requires a lot of trust from both ends and this article is going to explore how the blockchain technology can be used to build trust and conduct efficient urban development in a country.
Digital Voting
Many countries democratically elect legislators and presidents to represent the country. But is this process completely transparent so that everyone is able to know the outcome of the votes? After all, not all citizens can be present at the vote counting station. In this situation, a possible imposture is worth considering because who really knows what is going on behind the scenes? There could be a mistake in counting the number of votes or a powerful individual could easily bribe and cheat the system. Even if not for such a serious flaw, what about people who want to vote remotely? The current process is way too complicated since the method of verifying one’s identity is difficult. Such problems with voting can be resolved with the introduction of blockchain technology. Firstly, all the processed votes will be able to be calculated without human intervention. This means that there will be full transparency. Moreover, the users’ identity will be able to be verified online with the data stored in the main net. This would allow the voters to practice their vote wherever, whenever.
Law Enforcement
One of the main responsibility of a government is to prevent chaos by upholding a set of rules that are determined by the national and moral values. There are multiple types of laws and regulations that everyone living in the nation has to obey in order to get the benefits they deserve. While some of them are much harder to enforce even with the implementation of blockchain technology, there is a lot that can become a lot more organized. For example, tax evasion is a crime that lies mostly in the realm of upper-class citizens in society. As the government is responsible to make a livable state for everyone, they need to reallocate the wealth and tax evasion makes this difficult. In this case, a systematic smart contract can be implemented right away to record all the income that goes to an individual and automatically take out a reasonable amount that is pre-set. This would help the government regulate such laws and make a much more transparent country.
Smart City Development
Those who are interested in urban development or technology, in general, would have had heard of the Internet of Things (IoT). For those who do not know what it is, it can be simply described as wirelessly connected devices that can send and receive particular data. Huge scope for this technology is implementing this into urban development. Imagine your car is linked to the city network so it can let you know the availability of parking lots or have your house lights turned off when you forgot to do so before leaving your house. The overall concept is having enough access to certain aspects of the city and conduct actions remotely while maintaining security so that privacy is not intruded. This can be done with the blockchain technology.
Today, we looked at how blockchain technology can be used in public sectors, specifically in the central government. We hope this series was able to inform you about the potential the blockchain technology and how it will be able to influence every one of you.
Writer: Yunsoo Kim
Re-(E)Think, COO | RichValley, Inc. Director | Yale NUS ’23
