U.S. Bill May Allow Agencies to Adopt Blockchain Technology
Over the last few months, the popularity of blockchain technology has increased considerably. Now, recent reports indicate that the technology could be implemented across several U.S. government agencies, following the approval of a U.S. Defence Bill.
The Modernizing Government Technology Act, which is part of the National Defence Authorization Act, will work by allowing the public sector to go ahead and redirect various forms of cost savings into internal capital funds. According to the bill, these funds will then be used by government agencies in order to update their IT systems. Until now, unspent savings would be returned to the Treasury Department of the U.S. Government.
According to the bill, it will authorize agencies to use these unspent funds, in order to modernize three various IT sections: migrating legacy systems into the cloud, cybersecurity and other innovative technologies and their afferent platforms.
The bill does not explicitly talk about blockchain technology, but it would fit under the innovative platforms approval. Additionally, there have been talks to advance the technology beyond the concept at agency levels in the U.S., therefore this could be a move towards achieving such a goal. Additionally, not long ago, the senior vice-president of public sector, over at the Technology Industry Council mentioned that: "Blockchain was clearly one of the technological capabilities that Congress meant for agencies to look at, and what they were trying to do was create dollars with some flexibility to them so that agencies would have their own discretion on what they invest in."
Apart from this, companies that are actively looking for ways to provide enterprise-level, blockchain-based solutions to the public sector, are excited about the new MGT Act. According to them it provides federal agencies with incentives needed to get rid of high-cost and low-performance systems, while also opening the path towards migrating to newer, innovative technologies, such as the blockchain. Therefore, the MGT act may just serve as a catalyst for U.S Governmental Agencies, thus helping them secure the funding needed for IT system updates.
However, prior to the adoption of blockchain technology by government agencies, it is likely that further research will be required. With this in mind, blockchain must prove that it has enough potential for agencies to encourage adoption.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, it is highly-likely that in the future, blockchain technology will find its way in government agencies as well.