Page 47 - GCN, Jun/July 2016

BY BRIAN ROBINSON
The technology that powers bitcoin has the potential to address trust and security issues in government transactions
Blockchain technology promises a radi- cally new way of securely completing transactions between various parties, and it is starting to attract the govern- ment’s attention as the private sector builds a base for future applications that use the technology.
Blockchain has the potential “to vastly reduce the cost and complexity of getting things done — across indus- tries, government agencies and social
institutions,” said Jerry Cuomo, vice president for blockchain technologies at IBM, during a recent hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Commit- tee’s Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee.
The hearing addressed digital cur- rencies such as bitcoin that use block- chain, and the discussion was part of the subcommittee’s Disrupter Series of informational meetings on potentially
revolutionary emergent technologies. Previous hearings have focused on the Internet of Things, drones, mobile pay- ments and 3-D printing.
Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said blockchain is an incredible cutting-edge technology that could help address the trust and secu- rity issues “that are a daily challenge for individuals and companies in every sector of the U.S. economy.”
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