G20 countries have officially recognized the positive benefits of Blockchain technology in a communique on global economic cooperation.
The statement, issued last week and updated on Monday, details the need for a joint effort to “fight to restore the public’s faith in cross-border economic cooperation.”
“Blockchain technologies hold the key to building an inclusive global digital economy that is auditably [sic] secure and transparently accountable to the world’s citizens,” author Julie Maupin of the Centre for International Governance Innovation begins.
According to Maupin, Blockchain “can play a critical role in strengthening economic resilience while ensuring the global economy works to the benefit of all.”
She continues:
“The G20 must take decisive steps to harness this technology in service of its policy goals across [...] core focus areas[. …] Failure to do so risks further fragmenting the global economy, undermining public trust in international economic institutions, and pushing the most cutting-edge blockchain developments into dark web deployments that are beyond the reach of government influence.”
Concerted drives to cement disruptive Fintech in the roadmap of governments’ economic development plans have surfaced in recent times, albeit on a smaller scale and with noticeable provisos attached.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who chairs a Swiss G20 advisory group, said in January that he intended to make post-Brexit London the “world’s leading Fintech center,” while simultaneously warning that Fintech startups themselves might “exacerbate financial volatility.”
Maupin’s perspective appears visibly more upbeat, detailing evidence of Blockchain’s benefits already being witnessed in the global economy.
“Blockchains are already being deployed to replace single points of financial system failure with decentralized market structures,” the report continues.
“[...]They are helping expand financial inclusion to previously unbanked populations [...] They stand poised to improve the oversight of international markets by supplying policymakers with real-time data on financial flows and asset class risks.”