Can The UK Government Really Benefit From Blockchain?
IN DEPTH: Beyond the hype, can the government exploit Blockchain in the same way as other industries such as banking and insurance?
From a skills perspective, governments may also lack expertise in the area, and this is why the Isle of Man government has launched a major educational initiative to get more students learning about and working with digital technologies like Blockchain.
“If you actually try to get training in this specific area, it is very difficult, so we recognised that and built a centre of excellence for the particular area of Blockchain,” says Donegan.
McConaghy suggests that there would be value in getting experts of Blockchain to help vet any ideas the government has because “it’s not a one-size-fits-all wonderful magical tool” – and indeed many of the experts Silicon has spoken to have suggested that the hype surrounding Blockchain needs to be ignored in order for the government to focus on real, attainable targets which can help the country and its citizens.
When are we likely to see the benefits?
McConaghy, who is also a Blockchain engineer, founder and CTO of BigchainDB, says that Blockchain is like the web – in that there were immediate benefits on a smaller scale, and over years the number of use cases grew significantly.
“The web had more and more apps, it wasn’t something that happened over one year,” he explains.
Meanwhile, Shedden believes that in 2020 we will see initial scaled commercial use of Blockchain, and wide-spread multi-sector use by 2025. However, he emphases that the only certainty we currently have is that “nothing is certain and everything is to play for”.
