Is Public Sector Ready for Blockchain? Is Blockchain Ready for the Public Sector?

The emergence of the blockchain technology generated many expectations in the public sector due to the need to offer services within a framework of transparency and accountability, generating guarantees of information integrity and provenance and reinforcing the trust of citizens. Multiple use cases have been identified and, years later, we observe that very few have reached the implementation phase. This paper presents an analysis of some of these expectations based, above all, on our experience from being actively involved in initiatives at the European level primarily as participants in the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) since its inception. It describes our lessons learned, starting by the need to establish a “bridge with the existing world” in order to leverage the potential of blockchain more smoothly and quickly. It continues with the way to address the challenges of decentralization, transparency and accountability, and the approach to law and technology, while it underlines the importance of making a clear value proposition to attract the interest of public administrations and the requirement of putting in place an appropriate governance early enough in the process.