Canada trialing use of Ethereum blockchain to enhance transparency in govt funding

canada.jpg

The Canadian government has launched a trial to explore the use of blockchain technology in making government research grant and funding information more transparent to the public.

For the trial, the National Research Council (NRC) is using the Catena Blockchain Suite, a Canadian-made product built on the Ethereum blockchain, to publish funding and grant information in real time.

When the NRC creates or amends a grant, the pertinent information is stored on the Ethereum blockchain, and posted on an online database that Canadians can peruse.

“Blockchains provide the ultimate in transparency and trust, making this technology a brave new world for organizations that strive to conduct transparent business,” the NRC said in a blog post.

“These are early days yet, but the experiment is expected to provide constructive insight into the potential for blockchain technology and how it may be used for more open and transparent function of public programs.”

How is the NRC using the Ethereum blockchain?

Every time the NRC gives a grant to a company or individual, it shares that information with Bitaccess, which stores the data on the secure and tamper-proof Ethereum blockchain. Individual grant information is then posted online.

Canadians can peruse grant information by monetary value, date, recipient and region. They can also verify grant information by clicking on the Transaction ID link, which takes them to the unique transaction listing on the online Ethereum transaction database Etherscan.io.

As of Saturday, Jan. 20, the biggest grant listed on the database was an $11,849,901 contribution to an industry R&D project at Ryerson University.

The initiative should come as music to the ears of Ethereum’s 23-year-old Russian-Canadian inventor Vitalik Buterin.While much of the talk surrounding the rise of cryptocurrencies has centred on their profit-making potential (the value of the Ether token has risen by over 10,000 per cent in the last one year), Buterin, who invented Ethereum in 2015 aged 19, has been keen to stress the larger mission behind the technology — his website and Twitter timeline frequently refer to the use of Ethereum to distribute power and trust among the masses, rather than focus them on traditional power brokers such as government and banks.

Read full story : https://globalnews.ca/news/3977745/ethereum-blockchain-canada-nrc/

Sort:  

Funny how Canadians are leading the way in many areas or blockchain tech yet our government makes it very difficult for the general public to get involved.

Just how Canada makes health care accessable to its citizens says a lot about how they think of them, and I think that there shows a big difference between how America views its Citizens vs Canada.

The whole world wants to come for Canada's "Free" healthcare. However things in life are never "free".

Very true , that I have to agree with. But it seems to be easier to give "Free " healthcare than open doors to financial freedom.