1.
What’s up with the Blockchain
in Government?
Miquel Estapé
London, 11th March 2020
1

2.
Catalonia
• Region of Spain
• 7.5m inhabitants
• 1,000 local councils
90% < 20K inhab.
Miquel Estapé
+
• +20 years in Government
• Mayor of la Roca del Valles
• VP Digital Innovation ACGP
• Strategy & Innovation. Open
Government of Catalonia Consortium

3.
Agenda
1. Why Blockchain in Government ?
2. What is the current situation ?
3. What do the reports say ?
4. Do we understand its limitations ?
5. Recommendations and use cases

4.
Why Blockchain in
Government ?

5.
Government acts as an Intermediary
Oldest writing (2500 BC)
Sumerian (Iraq)
Account of silver
First coin (600 BC)
Lydia (Turkey)

6.
Blockchain builds trustworthy transactions
between parties without intermediaries
It may disrupt
governments

7.
What is the current
situation ?

8.
Currently, there
are very few
blockchain
services live in
government, and
all of them are at
early stages
Situation

9.
What do the
reports say ?

10.
“It will be at
least 5 years
until the
tech matures
and begins
to deliver
benefits.”
Gartner

11.
“The blockchain
remains
immature due
to a range of
technical issues,
including poor
scalability and
interoperability”
Gartner
Practical Blockchain

12.
“Big questions remain about its
potential and actual applicability.
Blockchain may offer a more
egalitarian alternative to the
institutional solutions. At the
moment, this remains mere
potential.
The potential is clear, but the jury is
still out on what actual impact
will be.”
The Gov Lab

13.
“Technology is in its
infancy but it has
immense powers that are
waiting to be unleashed.
It is not possible to make
any decisive claims about
its future or about where
it should be used and
precisely how.
OECD

14.
Blockchain: Latest advice for government agencies 12 February 2019
• Blockchain is still an emerging technology and, when considered
against alternative technologies, gaps become evident
• Recommend focus on addressing the needs of users
Australian Government

15.
So far, the it is neither
transformative nor disruptive
for the public sector.
We have not observed the
creation of new business
models, new services nor
disintermediation of public
institutions.
Truly transformative services
are missing from the current
landscape
European Commission

16.
“Blockchain is where AI
was 5 years ago.
It might end up being
something great as AI or
much smaller. That will be
determined by how many
killer apps are found.
We just have to be honest
and evaluate technologies
at the proper tech stage”
Kai-Fu Lee
Executive at Apple, Google & Microsoft. AI
renowned Expert and VC investor in disruptive
technologies

17.
Do we understand
its limitations ?

18.
Record logs,
no ‘information’
Not cheap
Not fast
Risk: losing
private key
Anonymity & no privacy
Not easy to scale
Nobody is liable
GDPR: right to be
forgotten, who is the
processor, etc
Limitations There are various proposed solutions to these limitations, but they
have not been validated in production government projects yet

19.
Recommendations
&
use cases

20.
Government responsibility
To build their
knowledge
and anticipate
its possible
applications

21.
Recommendations
Monitor
– Look at international initiatives
– Be sceptical about “successes”
Focus on users’ needs
– 1st the Challenge, 2nd the Tech
Compare
– Do you have an issue with
existing solutions?
– Weigh benefits and limitations
Experiment and learn
– Learning by doing in sandbox
labs (Lean Start-Up)
Evaluate in sandbox
– Cost, right to be forgotten,
private key destruction, etc.
Collaborate
– Partnership with governments
and companies to develop
complex and costly projects

22.
Intermediaries are inefficient
Cross-border or public-private transactions
Interoperability & tracking is hard
Legal, organization, standards or technical issues
Lack of transparency and trust
Areas with more potential
(leaving apart cryptocurrencies)

23.
Self-sovereign digital identity for the public
and private sector, local and international
Traceability between the private and public sector:
food, medicines, imports, etc.
Public registers where public trust in government
runs low (usually due to corruption)
Use Cases
(leaving apart cryptocurrencies)

24.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this presentation belong solely to the author,
and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.
Thanks for your attention !
Miquel Estapé