Dubai: Dubai, Dubbed as the “city of the future” plans to have robot cops, flying taxis and autonomous vehicles on its roads in coming years.

Recently it appointed a minister in-charge of Artificial Intelligence and is planning yet another transformation: to become the world’s first blockchain-powered government.

By 2020, the emirate wants all visa applications, bill payments and license renewals, which account for over 100 million documents each year, to be transacted digitally using blockchain.

The strategy could save 25.1 million man hours, or $1.5 billion in savings per year for the emirate. Much of this enhanced productivity will stem from moving to paperless government.

ArabianChain is moving all Dubai’s government paperwork onto the blockchain, so it doesn’t need lawyers and government departments for verification.

• ObjectTech is providing digital passports and blockchain security to Dubali International airport to deliver seamless entry and exit from the country.

• The Dubai Land Department has launched a blockchain system to record all real estate contracts and record all property-related transactions such as rental, utility and telcom bills.

• In October, Dubai launched emCash, its own cryptocurrecny for citizens to pay for all services via digital cash.

• The country has set up the 46-member Global Blockchain Council, including companies like Microsoft, IBM and Cisco, to lead the way in the country’s adoption of blockchain technology.

Blockchain smart contracts and cryptocurrency track all transactions that take place with any agreement or transferable asset. That means the end-point of Dubai’s blockchain adoption is that there will be no further need for the middlemen in our day-to-day transactions.

That means: No more lawyers, No more accountants, No more bankers, No more immigration officers, No more government officials.

It would also massively shrink the size of the Dubai government. Why would they do that?

As Dr Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General of Smart Dubai Office, the country’s department in charge of making Dubai the world’s smartest city says:

“The Dubai government differs from others around the world in that it aims to make Dubai the ‘Happiest City on Earth’. In short, we want to give people back time they would have otherwise spent on filing paperwork.”

Could Dubai’s Blockchain initiative lead to a revolution in happy countries reducing the size and influence of their governments?

Could an end point be no government at all?

“The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.”

-Bill Gates

When asked how he would set up a government on Mars, Elon Musk said the “Most likely the form of government on Mars would be a direct democracy – it would be people voting directly on issues.”

In other words, in this new technological age where the best middle man is no middle man, the best government may be no government at all.”

-Roger Hamilton

“Let’s go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday.”

-Steve Jobs