Two reports: long term scenarios and immediate technical applications
Funded under the National Innovation and Science Agenda, we have delivered two reports that examine the risks and opportunities of blockchain technology in Australia.
The first report, Distributed Ledgers: Scenarios for the Australian economy over the coming decades, explores four plausible adoption scenarios of blockchain technology in Australian in 2030. This approach includes scenarios that are aspirational and transformative, establish a new equilibrium and represent collapse.
The second report, Risks and opportunities for systems using blockchain and smart contracts, selects three use cases to examine how blockchain systems can support new markets and business models. These include: agricultural supply chains, government registries and remittance payments.
We identified the following benefits for businesses and government
Business
A skyline with the Data61 logo and visualisation of the blockchain processEnlarge image
Since they remove the need for a third party, blockchains can reduce the number of stakeholders involved in a transaction therefore reducing cost and saving time. Blockchains can also enable better information sharing and better business processes, giving stakeholders more confidence and reducing cost and risk.
Government
Blockchain can be used as a common reference point to bring together different levels of government (local, state and federal) to host government registries of open data.
This may mean more reliable integration across government services, improved mobility and business consistency across states and better regulatory oversight when blockchains record operational information in regulated industries.