While countries including Canada and Australia have already begun incorporating blockchain technology with their digital infrastructure, Singapore is also moving forward as one of Asia’s leading blockchain developing countries. As early as 2018, consulting firm PWC released a report indicating that 82 percent of surveyed executives in Singapore reported blockchain initiatives underway, while 13 percent have already bought the initiatives live to market.
Blockchain is a technology that can completely rebuild the supply chain for sustainable practices. Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger that provides a digital database to keep track of all supply chain transactions. Researchers and developers have shown that blockchain technology offers benefits beyond cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It can completely change the functions of financial and government institutions by offering new methods of processing information and organizing procedures.
Several governments, especially i Europe, has tested this cutting-edge technology for various purposes and services over the past few years, including land registration, educational credentialing, healthcare, procurement, food supply chains and identity management. Apart from the improvements that blockchain technologies have achieved for financial transactions, it has been used by governments around the world in various areas to develop smart and sustainable cities and improve public information systems for the foreseeable future as blockchain technologies can provide a secure, interoperable infrastructure that allows all smart city services and functions to operate beyond the currently anticipated levels.
In 2020, the Government of Singapore, together with Enterprise Singapore (ESG), the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), launched a $12 million Singapore Blockchain Innovation Program (SBIP), which aims to incorporate blockchain technology research with industry needs, to facilitate the development, commercialization and adoption of wider real-world applications. This industry-driven initiative will engage close to 75 companies, including multinationals, large enterprises and ICT companies, to conceptualize 17 blockchain-related projects within the next three years in the trade, logistics and supply chain sectors.
Furthermore, the SBIP aims to look at the scalability of blockchain technology to enable use in environments with high transaction rates; blockchain interoperability that enables value exchange across blockchain systems and addresses the current challenges of blockchain networks; and expanding the blockchain technology talent pool to enable ICT companies to further exploit blockchain technologies. If incorporated carefully, it can benefits of SBIP will enable a common, shared, open public infrastructure to develop digital services across Singapore’s public sector. Other benefits include data protection, transparency, fraud prevention, etc.
Blockchain’s main attraction of decentralized finance or DeFi, which removes intermediaries from financial transactions remains largely unregulated. This is because changing the critical aspects of DeFi would remove decentralization and transparency, rendering the technology useless. Regardless, trust in this industry is important as blockchain technology is now being rolled out by governments.
Like modern technologies in the early stages of adoption, blockchain can flourish as long as policymakers evolve effective regulations and avoid over-regulation so as not to miss out on reducing the beneficial results expected to improve the quality of De-Fi’s upcoming improvements that are desired to significantly change the financial landscape of Singapore through decentralization and transparency. When fully implemented, the SBIP will allow government agencies to develop and revolutionize digital services from issuing passports to contracting with public services. It really is a win-win situation for everyone.
