The European Union, or EU, mentioned blockchain technology as part of social services digitization efforts to keep Europe up to speed with the changing times.

“As in the case of the services sector, the use of blockchain technology is in an early phase of adoption in health and social care, where it has been used to pay benefits in cash and to monitor pension contributions,” the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, or Eurofound, an EU agency, said in a 2020 report.

The EU agency sees blockchain benefits and use cases

Highlighting the technology’s benefits, the report noted blockchain enables security, absent third-party reliance.

“Other possible benefits from this technology for the public sector are more tailored services for citizens and greater transparency and trust in governments,” the write-up noted. “Identification via blockchain can be used to allocate funding and benefits in cash in a more time- and cost-efficient manner.”

The report also highlighted other blockchain usages, including those relating to pensions and payments.

Additionally, Eurofound pointed toward blockchain’s importance, even given the technology’s youth. “Even though blockchain is still in the early stages of adoption in the service sector, it may lead to the replacement of intermediaries, contracts and/or verification systems,” the agency detailed.

The report as a whole aims to go digital

In addition to blockchain, the report mentioned many areas of digitization, including artificial intelligence, robots, and Internet of Things technology.

“Often, the objectives of the digitalization of social services are to achieve cost efficiency and to allow older people to live in their own homes independently for as long as possible,” Eurofound said of its digitization effort as a whole.

The EU report said parties researched and composed the report prior to the global coronavirus situation at hand, although pertinent aspects have also been added regarding the ordeal.

Since Bitcoin’s price peak and mainstream hype in 2017, more and more entities have dived down the blockchain rabbit hole, exploring the technology made famous for underpinning crypto’s largest asset. JPMorgan Chase even jumped on the bandwagon in 2019, proposing its blockchain-based stablecoin, JPM Coin.

Cointelegraph reached out to Eurofound for additional details, but received no response as of press time. This article will be updated accordingly should a response come in.