Keynote: Using Blockchain to Empower Digital Government

Abstract

Blockchain is the technology used by developers of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to enable exchange of financial ”coins” between participants in the absence of a trusted third party to insure the transaction, such as is typically done by governments. We introduce blockchains, describe their concepts, layout the challenges in using them, and discuss use cases from a governmental viewpoint. We find that a certain type of blockchain, permissionless, has not been adopted in governmental settings, and conclude that permissioned blockchains may best be suited to them due to better scalability, lack of anonymity, and better data integrity guarantees.