The British government is considering paying out research grants with #bitcoin — Quartz
▻http://qz.com/670708/the-british-government-is-considering-paying-out-research-grants-with-bitcoin
Matthew Hancock, the minister for the Cabinet Office and paymaster general, said today the cabinet had begun exploring ways to use blockchains in the government, with a particular interest in how it could be used in the disbursal of government research grants.
“Monitoring and controlling the use of grants is incredibly complex. A blockchain, accessible to all the parties involved, might be a better way of solving that problem,” Hancock said in a speech at Digital Catapult, a government-funded think tank. Hancock cited bitcoin as a successful example of “distributed ledgers,” another phrase for blockchains, being used to track currency.
(…) The government’s chief scientist has also studied the technology, publishing a report in January. A chapter of the report was devoted to uses of blockchains within government. “If applied within government it could reduce costs, increase transparency, improve citizens’ financial inclusion and promote innovation and economic growth,” the report said.