Puerto Rico recently announced that it may be looking for a blockchain solution to fight government corruption, particularly after a Puerto Rican mayor pleaded guilty to accepting a cash bribe of more than $100,000.
But could a distributed digital ledger really make an impact in the unincorporated United States territory’s struggle against public fraud and wrongdoing?
It might if it were done in tandem with other public efforts, governance experts tell Cointelegraph. Puerto Rico could gain, too, by heeding lessons from other countries that implemented blockchain to fight corruption in recent years, including Georgia, India and Colombia, and it shouldn’t be reluctant to bring in outside help, though much of the key work should still be done by local agencies. Puerto Rico shouldn’t expect a quick technical fix.
“We have a real credibility problem,” the Puerto Rican House Speaker told Bloomberg, and more transparency and accountability — the sort that blockchain technology potentially offers — “might be part of the solution.”
Nir Kshetri, professor at the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for one, thinks the Commonwealth official might be onto something. Blockchain technology can not only enhance anti-corruption efforts, but it can also be a game-changer, he told Cointelegraph.
“Blockchain systems can keep a full audit trail of all activities and transactions that government officials have been engaged with,” Kshetri said, adding, “The immutability feature means that government officials cannot delete files. Any change will be noticed immediately by other participants connected on the blockchain network.”
Others aren’t quite so certain but say that blockchain technology can keep the government clean if other conditions are right. “Blockchain can play a role in securing transactions and monitoring events, preventing fraud and corruption,” Per Aarvik, a researcher at the Chr….
