Lack of Government Cooperation Hampers Blockchain Technology Adoption
Blockchain technology has been embraced by the business community. But the electronic-ledger protocol has had a rougher time becoming accepted by governmental structures.
For instance, unlike Europe and Asia, there are no smart ports in America. Ports in America are untrammeled by the Internet of Things (IoT). “We’re a bit behind on that,” said Silvio Frank Pupo, an investment banker with Logos Capital.
Speaking at the Blockchain Event 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Pupo relayed the slow progress on governmental blockchain adoption he’s witnessed as a member of the Miami Mayor’s Council on Global Competitiveness.
Created in 2019, the Council seeks “new and exciting ways to attract talent, jobs and industry to Miami through collaborative international partnerships,” according to the Mayor Francis Suarez.
Discussing local government blockchain adoption,” Pupo discussed the need for interagency and inter-municipal cooperating to set standards for blockchain adoption.
In Miami-Dade County, for instance, there are at least 35 cities. None of them have data sharing agreements, he said.
“Government agencies are figuring out how then can work together so they don’t repeat projects,” Pupo said.
He estimated that 80% of the participants in the meetings he attends are contractors looking for government business, while 30% of attendees have done blockchain deals. He says the Airport Research Cooperative is the group he works with most closely.
“Blockchain allows us to share data that’s tamper resistant,” he said. “Zero Knowledge Proof is a cryptological concept that enables one party to prove a statement is true without revealing why it is true. The Zero Knowledge Proof concept is the main reason blockchain technology has value.”
Reasons abound for employing blockchain technology in business procedures, including:
- Managing supply chains
- Trading international property
- Delivering cross-border payments
- Recording real-estate transactions
- Securing voting records
- Upgrading insurance/healthcare documents
- Reducing identity theft.
Pupo mentioned a social project in Miami that employed digital tokens as reward. Volunteers who showed up to help clean the beach were gifted tokens that allowed them a chance at an NFT during a raffle,.
“If we can tokenize and gamify, life becomes more fun to live,” he said.
Drawbacks to blockchain adoption include the high-energy consumption needed to produce the chain, he said. Many industries, such as NFTs and crypto-currency, have yet to mature. It’s going to take a while.
Nobody believed in the internet when it first appeared, Pupo noted. In its earliest version, the web allowed only one-way data transfers. With Web 2.0, we could interact with each other. Now Web 3.0 is designed to personalize your data.
Pupo pointed to the implementation of Web 3.0 in 2023 as a possible turning point for blockchain adoption to take off.
“It isn’t going away,” he said.
Edited by Erik Linask
