World Economic Forum Article Highlights How Blockchain Could Help Tackle Corruption in Government Services

An article published on the World Economic Forum (WEF) website by a company executive, stated the benefits of blockchain, saying that the emerging technology could be the solution to mitigating corruption in government services.

Blockchain Application for Public Procurement and Land Registry

Matthew Van Niekerk, the co-founder and CEO of Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution SettleMint, mentioned two use cases where blockchain could prove useful for government applications. The use cases highlighted by Van Niekerk are public procurement and land registry. 

According to the SettleMint CEO, public procurement is prone to corruption because of the potential financial gains involved, and the ease of concealing corruption acts. Also, other parties such as the media, regulatory bodies, citizens, and end-users were discouraged from participating in the procurement process because information could be delayed, modified, and untrustworthy. 

Furthermore, public officials and private businesses are mostly involved in the procurement process, giving room for corruption practices. However, Van Niekerk opined that blockchain could offer transparency at various stages of the procurement process. 

Also, the SettleMint CEO said that the adoption of the emerging technology can “encourage a wider coalition of stakeholders to participate in and monitor procurement cycles.” In addition, the use of distributed ledger technology could prevent information tampering, while providing accessibility real-time to an ongoing procurement process. 

Van Niekerk also noted the inefficiencies in the land registry process. According to the executive, the long delay associated with closing a property sale, and the bottlenecks involved in the registration systems. Meanwhile, the SettleMint head noted the adoption of blockchain could help trim down the steps required to sell land, and also remove transaction bottlenecks, thereby eliminating the need to bribe top-ranking officials to speed up the process.

As reported by BTCManager earlier in 2021, Medici Land Governance (MLG) in partnership with the Liberian government to leverage blockchain technology to improve the land use system in Liberia. 

Blockchain continues to see increased adoption across different industries and sectors, including health and trade. In April, the European Investment Bank (EIB), was considering adopting distributed ledger technology for bond sales. Meanwhile, supply chain management (SCM) has seen numerous applications of blockchain-based solutions.