Cities aren't quite ready for blockchain, CIOs say

guest · Oct 4, 2021

Cities aren't quite ready for blockchain, CIOs say
October 4, 2021
https://statescoop.com/cities-blockchain-cio/

Cryptocurrencies — and blockchain, the decentralized distributed-ledger technology that powers them — are more popular than ever in mayor’s offices around the country. But technology officials, in cities like Miami, Philadelphia and San Jose, California, still have unanswered questions about how the technology applies to their local governments.

Though public blockchains — which provide a mostly tamper-proof method of keeping records without the need for a trusted third party — have existed for more than a decade, Miami Chief Information Officer Mike Sarasti said he only recently began taking them seriously.
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And until recently, he said, he wasn’t swayed by blockchain’s potential government use cases, few of which have taken hold in cities.
“Everyone was just like ‘blah, blah, blockchain,’” Sarasti said.
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Sarasti’s attitude changed, however, when Miami Mayor Francis Suarez took steps during the COVID-19 pandemic to embrace the technology.

Miami will soon invite companies to propose how they could help the city accept and invest in cryptocurrencies. Sarasti said the city is also exploring how validation, verification and auditing could be automated through the use of blockchain, potentially improving the efficiency of decades-old government processes, he said.
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“To the extent that there are still a lot of unanswered questions, in practice this is still a very difficult thing for government to adopt,” Sarasti said.

Philadelphia CIO Mark Wheeler said he’s also become more intrigued by blockchain over the past few months.
The city has no plans to test blockchain, but Wheeler said he’s looking for experts who can help the city find possible use cases.
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