{"id":46768,"date":"2021-11-23T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=46768"},"modified":"2023-03-02T12:12:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T17:12:47","slug":"what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened with blockchain in state government?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When cryptocurrency entered the public consciousness several years ago, many seemed to believe that blockchain, the distributed-ledger technology underpinning it, would soon be everywhere, including state government. Officials began launching blockchain initiatives, excited by the potential of a technology tied to the creation of overnight digital millionaires.<\/span><\/p>\n

But most of those initiatives died on the vine. And while none of the officials StateScoop spoke with said they oppose blockchain, they also seemed to lack confidence the technology would replace existing government processes any time soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019ve kind of been exploring with it, we haven\u2019t found where it\u2019s going to be a solution to one of our problems yet,\u201d Vermont Chief Information Officer John Quinn said in a phone interview. \u201cSince it is still a fairly new and emerging technology, I think it still has a little ways to go before it\u2019s as bulletproof as some say it is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Social media is overrun by cryptocurrency and blockchain evangelists. Few, if any, of them work in state government. That\u2019s partially because state government typically trails other industries, but also because, after years of research and pilot projects, CIOs said they see no compelling reason to pursue the technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of crypto, tell me a use of it,\u201d Nebraska CIO Ed Toner<\/a> said. \u201cTell me a widespread value-add that blockchain has ever delivered, ever. I challenge everybody. Give me one use of it. Walmart will tell you they\u2019re using blockchain to make sure it\u2019s organic \u2014 no, they\u2019re not. They\u2019re using a private general ledger, it\u2019s not real blockchain. And they trimmed it down so much that they can call it blockchain and it sounds cool, but it\u2019s a general ledger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After the hype<\/h4>\n

Things looked different a few years ago. A 2018 <\/span>Brookings Institute<\/span><\/a> blog post claimed that governments across the United States had recognized blockchain\u2019s potential to improve service delivery and they were at \u201cvarious stages of implementation” \u2014 technically true if those stages were \u201cexperimental\u201d and \u201cnot doing anything.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

While blockchain has been proposed as a solution to virtually everything, the most common proposals in state and local government are for things like tracking property ownership or asset inventory. But if any of those efforts were successful, states have been quiet about it. Several states contacted about their defunct blockchain programs did not respond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delaware Gov. John Carney backed off an aggressive 2016 blockchain initiative started by his predecessor, Jack Markell, that <\/span>reportedly produced<\/span><\/a> software for the state to integrate the distributed ledger technology into its business processes, but it was never implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cities are more bullish on blockchain, but even the CIOs of Miami and Philadelphia admitted their organizations weren\u2019t ready to use it internally. They have <\/span>expressed excitement<\/span><\/a> with the technology\u2019s prospects and said they\u2019re continuing to research potential uses, and Miami’s CIO and mayor have even begun automatically purchasing bitcoin with portions of their salaries.\u00a0<\/strong>Philadelphia this month <\/span>announced a new blockchain initiative<\/span><\/a> in which it invited developers to pitch ideas. The CIO, Mark Wheeler, told StateScoop he wanted to find out if there\u2019s a \u201cvalue proposition\u201d for blockchain in his city.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not a focus<\/h4>\n

Many state CIOs have already gone on their own fruitless searches for a good use of blockchain. <\/span>Illinois CIO Jennifer Ricker said a \u201ctask force\u201d several years ago came up empty. And the pandemic moved the state further away from the technology, she said, as officials became focused on projects that were less speculative and could be demonstrated to meet pressing needs that arose during the health crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that there\u2019s not interest [in blockchain], that there\u2019s not always the intention to look for a good opportunity for that here, but it just hasn\u2019t been a focus,\u201d Ricker said. \u201cI think a lot of times people seek to do something with something new and our approach is just to focus on what our problems are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ricker said her office looked at New York\u2019s use of IBM’s\u00a0<\/strong>blockchain technology to back its COVID-19 passport app \u2014 one of the few active uses by a state government \u2014 but said such an approach to a public-health initiative doesn\u2019t align with Illinois\u2019 strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think very often that the public tolerates the public sector trying to do something super new that\u2019s not tested yet,\u201d Ricker said. \u201cA couple years ago we tried to take the approach for Illinois and for [the Department of Innovation and Technology], that we\u2019re going to <\/span>focus on basics<\/span><\/a>. Let\u2019s get all the basics right and focus there and keep an eye out for innovative things, but if we\u2019re not doing basics well, we may have little business in thinking about the most advanced things first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vermont was close to using blockchain for a seed-to-sale hemp tracking system after awarding a contract last year. Quinn, the state CIO, told StateScoop that platform was seen as a low-stakes testing ground for blockchain because the state views hemp both as relatively harmless, but it’s also a regulated crop. But, he said, the company building the platform turned out to be \u201cnot mature enough in the [blockchain] space\u201d and the project was put on hold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of projects that just need the foundational stuff,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cThey need to be modernized and provide an online portal for people to be able to do business with the State of Vermont. At the top of that list are not the things that require blockchain. When I look at the hype around it a couple years ago, and I look at the problems we\u2019re trying to solve now coming out of a pandemic, we\u2019re much more focused on AI chatbots and how we can serve the public faster. Blockchain just hasn\u2019t been something that\u2019s come up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":46770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":false,"display_author_bio":true,"story_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20649,4677],"tags":[111,52,323,519],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4696],"class_list":["post-46768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emerging-tech","category-state","tag-vermont","tag-blockchain","tag-illinois","tag-nebraska","author-colin-wood"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-23T12:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T17:12:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2067\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colin Wood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/\",\"name\":\"What happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T12:00:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T17:12:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg\",\"width\":2067,\"height\":1450,\"caption\":\"(Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"description\":\"Latest news and events in state and local government technology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"width\":1470,\"height\":186,\"caption\":\"StateScoop\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop","description":"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop","og_description":"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.","og_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","og_site_name":"StateScoop","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","article_published_time":"2021-11-23T12:00:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-02T17:12:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2067,"height":1450,"url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colin Wood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@State_Scoop","twitter_site":"@State_Scoop","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","name":"What happened with blockchain in state government? | StateScoop","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-23T12:00:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-02T17:12:47+00:00","description":"Very little has happened with blockchain in state government.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg","width":2067,"height":1450,"caption":"(Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","name":"StateScoop","description":"Latest news and events in state and local government technology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization","name":"StateScoop","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","width":1470,"height":186,"caption":"StateScoop"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop"]}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"What happened with blockchain in state government?","url":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg"},"articleSection":"Emerging Tech","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Colin Wood","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/author\/colin-wood\/"}],"creator":["Colin Wood"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"StateScoop","logo":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/cropped-ss_favicon.png"},"keywords":["blockchain","illinois","nebraska","vermont"],"dateCreated":"2021-11-23T12:00:12Z","datePublished":"2021-11-23T12:00:12Z","dateModified":"2023-03-02T17:12:47Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"What happened with blockchain in state government?\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/what-happened-with-blockchain-in-state-government\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2021\\\/11\\\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Emerging Tech\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Colin Wood\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/author\\\/colin-wood\\\/\"}],\"creator\":[\"Colin Wood\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/cropped-ss_favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"blockchain\",\"illinois\",\"nebraska\",\"vermont\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-11-23T12:00:12Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T12:00:12Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T17:12:47Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/statescoop.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1255011267-1.jpg","distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"StateScoop","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46768"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54823,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46768\/revisions\/54823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46768"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=46768"},{"taxonomy":"special-report","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/special-report?post=46768"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=46768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}