Tag: GBA

Government Blockchain Association (GBA) Announces the First Release of “The Impact of Cryptocurrency Adoption on Government”

Tax Working Group of the Government Blockchain Association (GBA) today announced the first release of “The Impact of Cryptocurrency Adoption on Government.” This study, developed by an international panel of government and private sector experts, examines the adoption of cryptocurrency around the world and determines the impact it may have on governments. The study is intended to provide public and private sector leaders with the information needed to understand cryptocurrency trends and recommend potential courses of action.

While the world is navigating uncharted waters as the global pandemic introduces many challenges to national economies, governments are especially vulnerable to the changing tides that threaten established norms. The very definition of money itself is changing. As in many times of crises, there are opportunities to explore new ways of doing things that end up improving people’s lives.

“We are witnessing a rapidly growing phenomenon in the world of cryptocurrencies, as it is trending toward total market capitalization of the world’s largest technology companies. If this trend continues, there is no doubt that the future of money, governance, and the law will change forever,” says Mark Montoya, Chief Data Officer at the Government Blockchain Association.

But what will this mean for governments?
“To understand this phenomenon, we need to start asking questions about cryptocurrency. If the cryptocurrency trend persists over the next ten years, what is the impact on the global financial system? If significant transactions bypass traditional financial institutions, how will governments manage their economies and enforce their laws? Will cryptocurrency complement the payment systems, compete with them, or even replace them?” says Ksenija Cipek, Head of Tax Risk Analysis at the Ministry of Finance of Croatia.

– Background and Research Approach. The study discusses the impact of cryptocurrency adoption on the following areas of government: regulation, ethics, privacy, jurisdictions, economy, enforcement, and taxation.

– Trends in Adoption of Cryptocurrency and Government Impacts. Governments have embarked on many different initiatives ranging from Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) development projects to authorizing cryptocurrency custodial services for banks and drafting new cryptocurrency regulations. This study shows how and in what ways the evolution impacts government and the broader public sector, region by region, country by country.

To download the report, please visit www.GBAglobal.org/cmp.
About GBA
The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is an international professional association focused on blockchain-related technologies, opportunities, and challenges in the public sector. GBA cultivates professional workflows between technologists, public policymakers, financial and legal communities and acts as a catalyst in creating a public dialogue around the creative, profitable, and positive use of blockchain technology. For more information, please visit www.gbaglobal.org.

Source: Plato Data Intelligence: https://zephyrnet.com (bit.ly/3eBGYMV)

Ubitquity Joins the Government Blockchain Association (GBA)

Ubitquity LLC, the leading enterprise blockchain-secured platform for real estate and title recordkeeping, is pleased to announce that it has officially joined the Government Blockchain Association. With a diversified product suite that includes solutions for the aviation, title abstracting, and escrow industries, Ubitquity will be offering their technology and services to both government and private enterprise.

Could this be the link that brings real estate and title recordkeeping on a blockchain to the government?

“The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is a US-based non-profit, membership organization that consists of individuals and organizations that are interested in promoting blockchain related solutions to government requirements. We are excited to be joining such a well-respected global organization,” says Nathan Wosnack, Founder & CEO at Ubitquity.
Mr. Wosnack also hopes this combining of enterprises will be mutually beneficial, creating a long-term impact for the entire GBA community.

Ubitquity brings plenty of impact to the deal, hosting:
– Enterprise-ready, blockchain-secured platform
– Real estate record-keeping
– Simple User Experience for securely recording & tracking property deeds & land records
– Partnerships with academia, aviation companies, municipalities, and real estate companies
– Ubitquity Token and NFT creation
– Newly relaunched website: www.ubitquity.io

To find out more about Ubitquity, Contact:
Bryan Blumenfeld, VP of Partnerships
Email: info@ubitquity.io
Tel: +1 (724) BITCOIN [248-2046]

To learn more about the Government Blockchain Association, GBA, go to: www.gbaglobal.org

GBA Healthcare Working Group Releases White Paper as First Asset in Blockchain Ethical Design Framework for Healthcare

Beginning early 2020, the Government Blockchain Association (GBA) Healthcare Working Group (HWG) began undertaking the development of an ethical design framework for blockchain solutions in the healthcare industry as a service to the public. The GBA HWG is releasing the first asset in the Blockchain Ethical Design (BED) Framework for Healthcare in the form of a White Paper.

“We are excited to offer this guidance to healthcare policymakers, decision-makers and innovators in implementing blockchain featured technology in the healthcare space. The BED Framework for Healthcare is being developed collaboratively by members in the HWG including caregivers, entrepreneurs, healthcare technologists and legal professionals from around the world. We cover a comprehensive spectrum of use cases, regulatory and legal scenarios, and procedural insights based on real world experience in healthcare technology innovation. This White Paper is only the first asset in a suite of guiding tools the GBA HWG will be releasing through 2021, and we are looking forward to the feedback of our audience,” Marquis Allen, GBA Healthcare Working Group Chair

The purpose of this publication is to:

– Identify potential ethical issues of blockchain used in health service delivery
– Discuss potential ethical issues for stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem including regulatory and compliance segments
– Propose a conceptual framework of blockchain ethics as it applies specifically to its design, implementation and use in healthcare.
– Create an outline from which the Blockchain Ethical Design (BED) Framework for Healthcare and its assets, tools, documents and content will be developed by the GBA HWG.
– Raise awareness and stimulate further debate on the ethics of blockchain in the healthcare IT, health system governance and regulatory communities.

The GBA invites you to contact them for more information.

Learn more about the GBA: gbaglobal.org
For more information about the GBA Healthcare Working Group: gbaglobal.org/HWG
To download the whitepaper: gbaglobal.org/download

Contact: Kathy Dache @ Kathy.Dache@gbaglobal.org

NextGen Blockchain Platforms Self-Organize to Win Government Contracts

Over the past year, blockchain development communities have turned their attention towards winning government contracts.

There is a huge opportunity presented by increased government spending on blockchain projects. According to Bloomberg Government BGOV200 Report, federal government spending reached $597 Billion in 2019. However, since new businesses face barriers gaining direct access to government contracts, many have joined the Government Blockchain Association (GBA) to introduce their cutting-edge blockchain platforms to the public sector.

Traditionally government program managers choose to work with the same few legacy companies. For example, there are currently over 4.1 million US Federal government contractors but of the $597 billion in prime contracts awarded in FY19, the top 10 government contractors received $173.4 billion according to Bloomberg Government. However, the COVID-19 Global Pandemic was a catalyst that necessitated governments from around the world look at bold and innovative new ways to solve problems from a more diverse community.

In March of 2020 the US Department of Health and Human Services hosted a virtual Pandemic Response Hackathon. This hackathon idea completely changed the former process of government acquisitions. The slow pattern of the past was rewritten to adopt to the chaos, uncertainty, and urgency of COVID. Government contracts went from a centralized channel to open and decentralized solutions coming in from completely new sources. A new way of doing business was introduced to the world stage, and in November 2020 the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), National Informatics Centre (NIC) held their own up a GovTech Hackathon. Throughout 2020, countless examples of crowdsourcing solutions contested the traditional procurement processes.

Along with new paradigms in acquisitions, 2020 brought explosive growth of decentralized development communities and platforms. Decentralized communities operate on independently run servers, rather than on a centralized server owned by a business. Initially, most blockchain solutions were private-permissioned blockchains dominated by a single vendor. One of the most popular government blockchain solutions is Hyperledger Fabric. Though it is technically an open-source project, almost 80% of software changes to Hyperledger Fabric came from IBM, demonstrating an ongoing dependence on IBM to maintain the code.

Lately, next gen blockchain solution providers have been self-organizing into working groups and communities to compete in the contracts space. The largest and most engaged of these decentralized communities is the Government Blockchain Association, with members in over 500 Government Offices, thousands of public and private sector members in 120 Chapters, and more than 50 Working Groups, and 25 Communities of Interests. They also host regular online and in-person events to introduce blockchain solution providers to government officials, promoting this new diverse community.

Some of these next gen blockchain leaders include:
– DragonChain – DragonChain is an enterprise and start-up-ready platform to build flexible and scalable blockchain applications. It has business-ready applications and developer-friendly integrations that support many applications including learning management systems, decentralized identity, and anti-fraud and compliance solutions.
– NEM – A community that has developed two blockchains. They are NEM NIS1 and Symbol. NEM NIS1 is the original blockchain offering from NEM, created by the community, and optimized to be a developer’s sandbox. With zero downtime or major outages since 2015, NIS1 is the blockchain you can trust for all your project needs. Symbol is the next-generation enterprise-grade blockchain solution from NEM, purpose-built to help businesses cut costs, reduce complexities, and streamline innovation. With major upgrades in flexibility, security, speed and ease of use, the Symbol platform is the best-in-class blockchain enterprise solution.
– Simba Chain – SIMBA Chain is a cloud-based, blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, enabling users across a variety of skill sets to implement decentralized applications (dapps). These apps allow secure, direct connections between users and providers, eliminating third parties. The easy-to-use platform is tailored for users, developers, government, and enterprises to quickly deploy blockchain dapps for iOS, Android, and the web.
– TON Labs – TON Labs is the core developer of Free TON, comprised of a decentralized team focused on developing the infrastructure and free software for TON OS. TON OS is a full-fledged, vertically integrated technology stack that helps developers work easily with the blockchain and makes it simple and intuitive for users.

Decentralized blockchain projects include the Government Business Blockchain Platform (GBBP). This multi-blockchain platform allows solutions built on any blockchain to connect and become available to governments around the world. Sub-set eco-systems include Emergency Management, Healthcare Delivery, and Citizen Services. Blockchain applications can interconnect on the GBBP, providing identity management, logistics, asset management, payments, and many other blockchain services.

These examples demonstrate how blockchain providers are working together, self-organizing into decentralized entities to build public-facing blockchain solutions. GBA groups regularly host online meetings to discuss their projects. Anyone interested in joining the discussion can find out more on the GBA Events Calendar or Events List. Later this year the GBA will be bringing World-Class Leaders to Washington, DC for Government Blockchain Week on Sept 27 to Oct 1, 2021.

For more information to attend a free online event called NextGen Blockchain Platforms (https://www.gbaglobal.org/government-business-blockchain-platform/) on March 17, 2021 or send an email to support@GBAglobal.freshdesk.com.

GBA Welcomes Venture Investment Platform DAO Maker as New Corporate Member

The GBA has added another valuable corporate member to their growing network. DAO Maker, DAOETH, is a venture investment platform for all risk appetites, building the crucial platform for retail venture investing in equity and tokens. This will be great news for the over 15,000 participants in the GBA community who are interested in all things blockchain.

Providing a low-risk participation model for venture capital, DAO Maker allows retail investors the opportunity to step onto the playing field without risking large portions of their money. This framework gives everyday people a chance to safely grow their own capital, while it provides new funding for innovation worldwide.

Some bullets on DAO Maker:

– Provides low risk venture capital opportunities
– Provides funding source to innovation worldwide
– Has one of the largest ecosystems of quality retail investors
– Signed on more than 75,000 retail users in 2020
– Provides a suite of services to attract high quality startups to join the ecosystem
– Allows startups a decentralized, safe, and autonomous environment in which to accelerate

And, staying true to their DAO name, DAO Maker is now working on permissionless, self-managed versions of their technology products.

“The partnership between DAO Maker and GBA provides enormous opportunities for innovators and investors in our global community,” saysGerard Dache, Executive Director, GBA.

The GBA community is an international network of blockchain enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and government civil servants, who are looking to build new projects as well as earn a profit on their investments. Located in over 120 cities around the world, the GBA has over 50 Working Groups, dozens of Communities of Interest, including the Investors and Startups, and GBA is the US host to the World Business Angels Investment Forum. GBA’s goal is to bring the public and private sectors together to connect, communicate, and collaborate on new technology in a non-partisan, blockchain agnostic environment. The GBA has members representing over 500 different government agencies from Washington to Estonia to Japan.

To find out more, go to www.gbaglobal.org

Source: Platoblockchain.net