Governance and societal impact of blockchain-based self-sovereign identities

Traditionally, governments and companies store data to identify persons for services provision and interactions. The rise of self-sovereign identities (SSIs) based on blockchain technologies provides individuals with ownership and control over their personal data and allows them to share their data with others using a sort of “digital safe.”...

Self-sovereign Identities for Fighting the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

Whereas part of the world can benefit from the wonders of digital technologies, undocumented migrants, asylum seekers,and refugees are facing the rough reality of being “invisible” in society and ignored by governments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic impact of the closure of the service industry and the impossibility to keep most of...

The consequences of blockchain architectures for the governance of public services: A case study of the movement of excise goods under duty exemptions

Blockchain technology has the potential to provide public services directly to the public. This challenges the need for public organizations, who traditionally provided these services. Much of the current work is focused on the technology, whereas the influence on public administration structure has gained less attention. The goal of this paper...

Blockchain in government: Benefits and implications of distributed ledger technology for information sharing

Blockchain refers to a range of general purpose technologies to exchange information and transact digital assets in distributed networks. The core question addressed in this paper is whether blockchain technology will lead to innovation and transformation of governmental processes. To address this question we present a critical assessment of...