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 ensure the transaction, such as is typically done by governments. Blockchain has evolved to become a generic approach to store and process data in a highly decentralized and secure way.

In this article [“Blockchains for Government: Use Cases and Challenges“, author Yelena Yesha et al. review] blockchain concepts and use cases, and discuss the challenges in using them from a governmental viewpoint. [They] begin with reviewing the categories of blockchains, the underlying mechanisms, and why blockchains can achieve their security goals.

[They] then review existing known governmental use cases by regions. To show both technical and deployment details of blockchain adoption, [they] study a few representative use cases in the domains of healthcare and energy infrastructures. Finally, the review of both technical details and use cases helps . . . summarize the adoption and technical challenges of blockchains.

Read the full text . . .

James Clavin, Sisi Duan, Haibin Zhang, Vandana P. Janeja, Karuna P. Joshi, Yelena Yesha, Lucy C. Erickson, and Justin D. Li. 2020. Blockchains for Government: Use Cases and Challenges. Digit. Gov.: Res. Pract. 1, 3, Article 22 (November 2020), 21 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3427097