More governments join the race to pass regulatory legislation and commence pilot projects centered around blockchain technology every day. Governments can leverage blockchain technology to provide cybersecurity, process optimization, and integrate hyperconnected services while bolstering trust and accountability. The distributed ledger format can be leveraged to support an array of government and public sector applications, including digital currency/payments, land registration, identity management, supply chain traceability, health care, corporate registration, taxation, voting (elections and proxy), and legal entities management.

This article compiles a list of administrations that have launched or are preparing to launch blockchain projects around the world:

North America

Canada

Mexico

United States

South America

Argentina

Europe

The European Commission launched the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum to accelerate blockchain research and innovation to help position Europe as a global leader.

The European Horizon 2020 program invests up to €300 million in projects supporting blockchain projects across the European Union.

Austria

The Austrian government debuted the new Research Institute for Cryptoeconomy, which will support blockchain research projects through an €8 million fund.

Denmark

Denmark’s Liberal Alliance party was the first local association in the world to perform an internal election utilizing blockchain technology.

Estonia

Georgia

Germany

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH established a ‘Blockchain Lab’ to leverage the potential of blockchain and related technologies in efforts to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The German government released a Blockchain Strategy of the Federal Government; the strategy aims to exploit the opportunities offered by technology and mobilize its potential for digital transformation.

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

The ministries for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania published an MOU, which includes “supporting the development of capital market innovations and new technologies with a consideration for regional FinTech solutions, e.g., distributed ledger technology.”

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Slovenia

The government seeks to explore the technology of the distributed ledger, both at the country level and as part of international groups; it is included in the digitization plan of the country called Digital Slovenia 2020 as a separate initiative of Blockchain Slovenia.

The Slovenian government, in cooperation with the startup Eligma, launched the country’s Bitcoin City.

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Africa

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian government is exploring possibilities for the use of blockchain in the agricultural sector.

Ghana

The government of Ghana, in partnership with Bitland, launched a pilot project to register land on a blockchain. Upwards of 78% of the land in Ghana is unregistered. The project has now been trialed in 20 communities in Kumasi.

Kenya

Liberia

Liberia’s Ministry of Finance signed an MoU with a leading blockchain company to digitize government services and create e-government platforms .

Mauritius

The government of the island Mauritius, has created a Regulatory Sandbox License (RSL), allowing outside investors to develop blockchain-based solutions under the supervision of the Board of Investment of Mauritius.

Nigeria

Rwanda

The Rwandan government is utilizing blockchain technology to architect a “ paperless, secure, corruption-proof” system. The first pilot project will center around land registry.

Sierra Leone

The government of Sierra Leone, in cooperation with non-profit Kiva, launched a blockchain platform for credit history . The governmental agencies provide biometric data to identify applicants, while the platform offers a digital wallet and a distributed ledger to store the digital loan transactions.

The government of Sierra Leone plans to fully adopt a blockchain-enabled national identity system by the end of 2019.

South Africa

Tanzania

Tanzanian government eliminated 10,000 ghost workers from the public sector by utilizing blockchain technology to audit the public payroll. This step has saved ~4.5 billion Tanzanian shillings (USD 195.4 million), which are paid on a monthly basis to the ghost workers.

Uganda

The government of Uganda partnered with CryptoSavannah to create a proof of concept for land titles registry .

Zambia

The Lusaka City Council (LCC) signed an MOU with a blockchain platform to develop and deploy a land governance program, and support property title issuance .

Asia

China

As China has over 500 reported blockchain projects registered, many being government-led, we will select a few for this list.

The Management Committee of Xiong’an New District officially announced the introduction of blockchain technology in government management to establish a clean, transparent, and efficient government through comprehensive supervision .

The State Information Center, Union Pay, China Mobile, and three other organizations launched the Blockchain Services Network (BSN), a nationwide blockchain infrastructure project envisioned to be the “Android or Apple’s IOS system” for the blockchain.

legalXchain registered three blockchain services that are based on legalXchain, LegalFabric, and the Hyperledger.

The Guiyang Municipal People’s Government Press Office published a white paper entitled “Development and Application of Guiyang Blockchain.” The white paper has been referred to by industry practitioners as the country’s “first blueprint” for blockchain technology.

Hong Kong SAR

Hong Kong’s financial published new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges to get licenses. One rule stipulates that crypto exchanges do not need a Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) license to operate if they do not trade any products defined as a security.

India

Malaysia

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) announced that it is piloting a work visa program for tech freelancers to work in Malaysia short term, to fulfill a demand for AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity capable talents.

Singapore

The Central Bank Monetary Authority of Singapore teamed up with ConsenSys to explore the potential of distributed ledger technology in central banking. Project Ubin implemented real-time gross settlement systems with full transaction privacy, settlement finality, and no single point of failure.

South Korea

Thailand

The State Railway of Thailand and Thailand Post will reportedly develop and apply Internet of Things (IoT) technology to track train arrivals and departures and blockchain technology to track high-value parcels.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The Smart Dubai project leverages blockchain, A.I., and IoT technology in attempts to make Dubai the happiest city on earth.

Australia