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The Use of Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology in
Public Sector
Svein Ølnes, Vestlandsforsking
Norstella’s Blockchain Conference, 26.10.2016
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«Everybody» want a blockchain
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Research institute (foundation), located in Sogndal (est. 1985)
Research areas: Climate and environment Information technology Tourism
25 researchers
Part of the public research infrastructure in Norway
Western Norway Research Institute
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Researcher at WNRI since 1996
Main research topic: ICT in public sector
Interested in Bitcoin/blockchain since 2011 Bought my first bitcoins in 2011 (Mt. Gox!) .. and have followed the development in crypto currencies since then interested in the intersection of technology, economy and society Currently a student in the MSc program Digital Currencies at the
University of Nicosia have published papers on Bitcoin/blockchain use in public sector Disclaimer: own bitcoins og ether, have Bitcoin mining equipment
About me
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Statement
Blockchain technology, and especially universal and open blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have a great potential for use in public sector
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Statement backed by paper
Blockchain technology, and especially universal and open blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, have a great potential for use in public sector
«Beyond Bitcoin – Enabling Smart GovernmentUsing the Bitcoin Blockchain» eGov 2016, Springer LNCS
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Open vs. closed blockchainsOpen
(permissionless)Closed
(permissioned)
Who can update Everybody withenough resources
Selected people/org.
Who prod. data Everybody participat. Customers of org.
Incentive to follow rules Direct economic(carrot & stick)
Reputation
Storing Distributed Centralized
Trust in central actors No Yes
Transaction costs - +
Speed (trans./sec.) - +
Immutability + -
Currency/»token» Yes No
Example Bitcoin, Ethereum HyperLedger
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What is genuine with (open) blockchains?
Immutability «tamper proof» vs. «tamper evident» .. but not in itself (ref. Ethereum and The DAO)
Censor-ship resistant «unwanted» transactions will also be processed as long as they
follow the consensus rules
Open for all and at the same time protect privacy
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What public sector needs to think through
Interoperability open vs. closed blockchains
Platform/infrastructure for public sector from «common components» to common platform
Clear parallells to the growth of Internet in the 1980s/1990s
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Bitcoin as a platform and information infrastructure
Bitcoin infrastructure (Network Services)Blockchain, Consensus, Ordering, Hash storage, Security
Bitcoin currency
Colored coins(Mastercoin, Counterparty
++)Sidechains
Payment channels (Lightning Network..)
Smart contracts
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Bitcoin and blockchain in public sector Authentication of documents
badges, course certificates, CVs other certificates and licenses ++
Proof of ownership property +++
Economy transparency audit
Think of Bitcoin/blockchain as a new Internet-based platform!
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Examples on the use of Bitcoin/blockchain Authentication of documents
Course certificates from the University of Nicosia (digital currencies) MIT’s Blockcert is a suite for streamlining the work with certificates
and CVs on the Bitcoin blockchain
Proof of ownership Sweden and many other countries are experimenting with property
registration on a blockchain What about Norway?
Security and anti-spam machine-to-machine payments (as a safeguard against email spam,
DDOS attacks, new business models for media companies ++) Internet of Things (IoT) is difficult, or impossible, to scale without a
decentralized architecture. Blockchain tech. seems perfect.
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Relevante literature Nakamoto Satoshi: «Bitcoin - A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash
System» (bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper)
Andreas Antonopolous: «Mastering Bitcoin»
Nathaniel Popper: «Digital Gold»
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Thanks for your attention!
e-mail: [email protected]
This presentation:http://www.slideshare.net/sveino/norstella-blockchain-en
Bitcoin address:
1sveinoFzUtMQ5wnnxMoHX9vb42mvPsWN
