Topic: Blockchain technology has the potential to transform government (Read 309 times)

Very interesting.

KSI is a centralized system that encrypts data inside of its servers using customer-held private keys. I guess you could call that "blockchain" but it's not the blockchain concept most people are aware of today.

For me, KSI actually underscores how much the post-Satoshi approach to blockchain (decentralized) does not work. I already know this based on my experience with high-scale architecture, but this is yet another piece of empirical evidence.

Yes, blockchain technologies have the potential and have been proven to bring benefits to the people and the government and add an extra layer of protection to the data. For example, the Republic of Georgian and BitFury signed an agreement years ago that BitFury would implement blockchain technologies in many areas and one of the most successful one is a land registry on Blockchain. This guarantees that no one will be able to modify the stored data and customers can feel safe.
Blockchain technologies really are one of the most innovative and beneficial inventions of recent years. They can successfully be implemented in healthcare and as far as I am aware, there is a discussion about that among BitFury and some hospitals.

The blockchain was not invented from scratch by Satoshi.
The concept dates from 1982 or 1991 depending on what you want to credit as true blockchain and there is one running 13 years before Satoshi:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5nzx4/what-was-the-first-blockchain

As for the govemermnt one, I've already mentioned it, started in 2007, still working flawlessly
https://e-estonia.com/solutions/cyber-security/ksi-blockchain/

Governments only exist thanks to taxation and inflation. Bitcoin is inherently immune to these forms of theft, so full adoption of Bitcoin eliminates governments.

Government is not some word or an abstract idea that you can eliminate with a database! It's a structure, a system that is governing the society with all its shortcomings, flaws and possible corruptions. Blockchain is just a database.

There's a country that's been using blockchain before blockchain existed? Impressive. Which country is that?

Of course, Blockchain can be used in many governmental and non-governmental fields, whether in medicine, education, pharmacy, chemistry, and many other fields, not only in the field of cryptocurrencies.

But the problem with Blockchain is that it is completely decentralized and transparent, and this does not suit governments because there is some sensitive information in some areas that they do not want to share with the public, so I expect that they will prevent the use of Blockchain in areas that they do not want to make completely available to the public.

The "blockchain, not Bitcoin" phase of 2018. A time of unbridled enthusiasm and, let's be honest, a touch of naivety. Everyone wanted a piece of the blockchain pie, and the possibilities seemed endless. But were they all just chasing the Bitcoin dream in disguise?

Sure, some ideas were probably misguided, fueled by the hype rather than a deep understanding of the technology. But to say blockchain has no merit outside of cryptocurrency would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Instead of focusing on the lost hype, let's shift our gaze towards concrete applications. Where can blockchain truly shine and revolutionize existing systems?

"Blockchain technology has the potential to transform government"

No, it has the potential to eliminate government, which is far better.

The project started in 2007, it went online in different stages but it was called blockchain since being released to the public.
But again, the naming wouldn't have mattered even if they would have chosen another name, say keychain or something because if we go by the basics it's a blockchain, not decentralized but truly a blockchain storing hashes of personal data instead of transactions.


We have one country that has been using it for almost two decades, now and you still it doesn't work?


Nothing like that, blockchains can exist without bitcoin, bitcoin can't exist without a blockchain.

Blockchain is more like a manual or guide to bitcoin;If you must know have bitcoin,you must know how to control,access and own bitcoin,then you must have understood and studied the blockchain network.Bitcoin is the name of the best-known cryptocurrency,and blockchain is the technology that works behind the existence of bitcoin.i.e,bitcoin was the reason why the blockchain network was created.

Yes,bitcoin Is based on the blockchain network,its just like the symbiotic relationship that exists between two living organisms in biology,where both organisms benefit from each other support,interaction and existence.
 The same theory applies also to bitcoin and blockchain,blockchain is the backbone to bitcoin and these digital network are inseparable because they work hand in hand with each other.
 If blockchain has the capacity to transform the government,then it should be the security and transparency sectors that needs thorough sensitization.But the problem is you cannot use a poison remedy to cure malaria,or you can't use the healing treatment of yeast infections to treat HIV/AIDS...lolz.There's no clue as to if blockchain can help the governments lapses.Blockchain works best for what it was created for and that's bitcoin.It'll be unexciting to abuse the blockchain network.

Read the thread. It has nothing to do with governments being "threatened". It simply doesn't work in practical terms.

The technology is useful and they can use it for sure, but for those who might be thinking that if governments use blockchain technology, things will start to become decentralized then it's not true. Even if they adapt the technology, and start using it for projects and stuff, they will try and create their versions of it that will be completely centralized and under their control where they can broadcast or delete blocks in the blockchain and manipulate the data whenever they want, otherwise, what's the point?

Do you think that governments are against Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies because they don't like the technology? Even they know how useful it can be, what they dislike is the decentralization which makes them lose control and they can't accept and digest that which is why they are hesitant and are always doing their best to either keep them away from people or regulate them as much as possible.

Time between blocks, or confirmation speed doesn't necessarily have to be a certain value (30 min, 10 min, 1 sec). It can be anything you set it to and it depends on the mining algorithm used in that blockchain.

Another fundamental issue with the idea of voting using blockchain is: how would you limit one private key per person?! The nature of things as they are, is that you can create as many keys as you want and the key space is virtually limitless. So I could create a million keys for example and cast a million votes!
If we add a centralized entity that issues the keys and limits it to one per person then we are at square one: why use blockchain in first place

So every single voter would be required to hold a private key that could be physically lost or stolen? That sounds like it would create more problems, not fewer since you'd be dealing with anonymous private keys that could never be traced, by definition, to an actual voter.

And if you are making all voters hold a private key, why especially would you implement this system with... blockchain? Just keep a database of public keys with the vote along side of it. You don't need any sort of "chain" here.

And then there's the problem that blockchain doesn't scale when it's not centralized (centralized blockchain being a pointless oxymoron). Could you imagine every single voter waiting 30 minutes for their vote to be stored? One election would take a year.

A government, by definition, is a centralized thing. Decentralized architectures gain their advantage principally in evading governments and central authorities. (This is why blockchain doesn't work for companies either).

One of the potential application of blockchain would be in voting, that way there's going to be no way that the votes can be doubled, tampered or even zombie voters are added to the system, that's the potential use that I can think of when it comes to blockchain on government operations. But I don't think that we're ever going to see those applications anytime soon, I think most of the governments around the world don't like the idea of using an advance system plus they know that they're going to pay a really big amount of money for it and the government don't like the idea of spending too much. So for now, we can only hope that we'll see an application of blockchain in the government.

Technology that resemble blockchain already exist since late 90s. But on other hand, i wonder since when they use blockchain. I haven't done through research, but it looks like they create their own distributed immutable system since 2007, but later decide to call it blockchain.

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger, and it's been known for many years that it can be potentially used for various things that go well beyond cryptocurrencies. There have been some explorations of blockchain voting systems, blockchain ticketing, and the famous IBM corporation has a webpage on Blockchain use cases for governance. So, is it possible to use blockchain for various purposes? Absolutely. But will it become the future? It's still hard to say. There's, first, a matter of trust, which can be difficult for new technologies to gain. Then there's a question of practicality, and whether Blockchain is indeed optimal for certain use cases.

In my opinion, the application of the blockchain system in data collection on election results is very consistent with the aim of elections in every country to produce clean, honest and fair results. The country I live in is currently in the process of collecting data on election results which were just finished a few days ago and are currently still collecting data on vote results in each region. The problem lies in the results that use a data collection system that is very far from the actual data collection system or the administration's data collection system which can easily be changed by other parties.

If blockchain is applied to collect data on election results, I am 1000% sure the results will be in accordance with reality. There is no data manipulation or it is far from criminal to manipulate data in the recap.

Blockchain technology would help economies with its features that allow secure and transparent data sharing among multiple parties without a central authority.

Its positive impact would include, the increase in trust and collaboration between government, citizens, and business owners by providing immutable and verifiable records of processes and transactions. It'll, of course, register and lead to Economic growth by supporting new business ventures like decentralized finance, smart contracts, and so on. It'll also reduce bureaucracy, corruption, fraud, etc by enabling digital identity management in land registries, voting, taxation, and healthcare records.

Although there are lots of positive impacts, there would also be negative impacts. They are; conflicts with existing laws, rules, and regulations which would require new ones in order to address the 8ssues of data privacy, taxation, and so on. The second would be technical and operational complexity which may lead to slow operations and delayed results. Also, it'll lead to the redundancy of government in their responsibilities.

Honestly, everything that has an advantage also comes with its disadvantages, and these disadvantages have their respective controllable measure and solutions. So, it'll be worth it, to have Blockchain technology in government and Economic activities.

Blockchain isn't always public and blockchain isn't a permanent record, so the government can use private blockchain and modify the code as much as they want. There's no government dare to rely on non profit oriented third party to publicize everything they have including secret information.

Hoping the government can improve by using blockchain is useless, they will find the loopholes.

There is actually a government developed blockchain  that has worked flawlessly for a decade and more as it's older then Bitcoin!
https://e-estonia.com/solutions/cyber-security/ksi-blockchain/
So you can't say that nothing happened when it happened before the article!  

Blockchain is the least efficient form of database, which is why it is not the magic pill that can solve all problems. The only reason why it works for something like Bitcoin is that the decentralization demands it and all the benefits of Bitcoin as a decentralized currency overshadows shortcomings of the blockchain.

I keep hearing all those "blockchain has the power to transform" this and that for the last 7 or 8 years. So far, blockchain technology didn't disrupt or change or transform any industry outside the cryptocurrency markets.
It's theoretically possible to implement blockchain technology in the election process to make elections more transparent and honest, but I don't think that the politicians around the world are willing to make such changes.
Perhaps the blockchain technology really has the potential to transform the governments, but are the governments willing to transform themselves?
One blockchain hater said that blockchain technology is a "glorified database". Is this true? Are we applying some "magic powers" to blockchain technology? I don't think that this technology is some kind of magic pill, that will miraculously solve all problems.

Of course, this is possible. Blockchain technology is essentially a separate part of cryptocurrencies, but cryptocurrencies have benefited from this technology to record all their transactions since their creation and keep them in blockchain records.

About two years or more ago, there was an idea for a joint European project to benefit from blockchain technology in government fields such as the banking, health, education, and even chemical sectors, where this data would be recorded on the blockchain and made available to everyone.

I do not know what happened to the project, but I expect that governments do not want to use Blockchain technology because it is decentralized. There is a lot of important data that the government wants to keep secret and not make it available to everyone, and this contradicts the concept of Blockchain in terms of decentralization and transparency.

These two concepts can not even be mentioned in the same sentence. Distributed ledger demands decentralization while governments are all about centralization.

In any case I disagree with the subject here, [decentralized] blockchain technology has no use for governments and can not change them at all. And as I skimmed through the article my opinion didn't change. The article simply doesn't have any justification for any of the random examples it uses (eg. using it for land registry, healthcare, etc.).

You see it is not about explaining possibility of doing something with a tool, it is all about explaining WHY.
Read the Bitcoin whitepaper (again if you have already). In there Satoshi doesn't only explain how this new payment system works. He also explains why Bitcoin should even exist, and most importantly what problems it solves.

Take land registration using blockchain technology (which so far has only meant injecting an arbitrary data into bitcoin blockchain through OP_RETURN and still use the same centralized database to verify these), what problem does that solve? Why isn't the current centralized system not working? What is its flaws and how does using the most inefficient form of database aka a blockchain solving those issues?
These are the questions they never answer. They just use some pretty words and some buzzwords about a new technology trying to solve everything with it without knowing why or how.

The article being old is proof that this is all empty words by people who neither understand the technology nor understand the problem they claim to be solving.

It surely can! But it depends on the government on how willing they are to make the data public. Blockchain has definite usage in sectors where data chronology needs to be maintained. example - land ownership records.

I can share one example where government has adopted blockchain. Read these news below,

https://www.ccn.com/indian-state-government-will-issue-birth-certificates-on-a-blockchain/

Also, there is a proposal going around the land records to be maintained in a blockchain database. Read the proposal below,

https://blockchain.gov.in/Home/CaseStudy?CaseStudy=LandRegistration#

So the usage is there and waiting to be implemented. But again it depends on the government as to how willing they are to share the data using a public ledger.

 

Well big transformation if they are willing to use it. But do you think they will really use or utilize it? Especially inside the government which we knew that there are some anomaly, modus or under the tables deed? Many are against on using blockchain for it for that sole reason. The transparency will be crystal clear and some of thosw politicians arent ready to be caught in the vanguard. Well not saying they are all guilty but lets agree to disagree here that majority do some hidden thing inside the Government.

Blockchain is a decentralized network to be made of data records or "blocks" which can't be limited by one person , every block of a chain has many transaction records in blockchain network, it's helps bring about,secure payment,verify data ,and prove that digital is real.

   Using blockchain technology ,it improve alot of trust and security when you can't change and verify records of transaction which can be used in combination by authorized agencies like land use registry medical records keeping safely,it also stops fraud , corruption and tempering e.t.c from happening.

   Blockchain technology has the ability to transform government sector that is e-govt,e-voting,e-identities,e-documents and promotes transparency in grants disbursement.

Very possible. Bitcoin was both a breakthrough in terms of finance and technology. We all know that the technology used for most cryptocurrencies will be soon our future. If not it already is our new normal. Everything these days is already digital.

It is also about time that the government start to accept development instead of trying to restrain the use of bitcoin. Although some countries are now more open to cryptocurrency than they were before so maybe they are starting to realize the benefits of crypto to their economy.

Cryptocurrency is here to stay. Not only bitcoin itself but its system, mechanism, and how it operates. Those things can be learned from and be used to innovate even better blockchains.

Blockchain works best in the way Bitcoin uses it, to facilitate the p2p transfer of information in a secure, censorship-resistant way in a network that relies simply on easily verifying the participants are following the rules of the protocol, rather than having to trust the network participants. This is perfect for digital money.


It seems to me that most ideas of expanding blockchain to other uses, which got popular among the general public and businesses back in like 2018 in the naive "blockchain, not bitcoin" phase were mostly a misunderstanding of what blockchain is good at and were businesses' attempts to try to channel the hype around Bitcoin and Ethereum toward their own business.

I'm sure there are other useful things trustless networks of p2p interactions can do. I'd be interested in seeing a detailed analysis of the actual specific ways a blockchain could be used as a solution to greatly improve specific existing systems. Mostly I've just seen vague ideas of blockchain being a solution to business/govt issues due to blockchain hype rather than a realistic assessment of how it would work in practice and how it would improve existing systems, and how the fact that these networks would probably be centralized in design would deteriorate the potential usefulness of a blockchain for the solution, considering decentralization is the underpinning of what makes Bitcoin special and is the super power of the correct usage of blockchain tech.

This article is over two years old, and all of the things it promised never happened.

The reason for this is that blockchain doesn't solve any technical problems outside of cryptocurrencies and NFTs that cannot be solved better without blockchain.

And "centralized blockchain" is essentially an oxymoron, and any institution thinking of using blockchain to solve a problem is necessarily... centralized. Blockchain outside of the context of cryptocurrencies and NFTs is a solution in search of a problem, and they still haven't found one.

My country just had its general election and it was marred by electoral malpractices. Some of the data on the national electoral body's website was manipulated and this led to the rigging of the elections. The blockchian could help in conducting a free and fair election because data that is recorded in it can hardly be tampered and is also immutable.

Many nations are embracing central bank digital currency (CBDC) because it seems to be a better currency compared to the physical or online fiat. Some nations are even engaging in international trade using CBDCs because it need no intermediary to facilitate these international transactions. Using CBDC is cheaper, and faster than fiat currency, this is why many nations are embracing this blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology can help us to store data on public ledgers and blockchains if are good enough, will be irreversible.

It can be used in many industries with more transparency than private database from governments and companies. We can only access those data if governments or companies publish them for us and give them open, free access.

With Blockchain, except private blockchains, we all can access public available data and if you search, you will see many projects in different industries and areas already apply blockchains.

Blockchain technology is an open distributed ledger anyone can venture into using it for their specific purpose, there are many networks found on it, just as you can discover the bitcoin network, DAO, Defi, Smart contracts and many other applications that we can use this technology to apply for our daily use, governments are also using this same digital technology in some areas of their needs where necessarily applicable, same applies to institutions, organization and personal use for our own products or company, we can explore it, know about some areas were they are applicable to the economy aside cryptocurrency.

Researchers and practitioners have demonstrated that the benefits of blockchain and distributed ledgers aren’t limited to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.  

How possible is this ?

Quote from: https://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/blockchain-technology-has-potential-transform-government-first-we-need-build-trust