Australia Post Accelerator explores blockchain's implementation in digitizing identities, registries and e-voting

Australia Post Accelerator has started exploring three potential areas which could be transformed using blockchain technology.

Australia Post Accelerator partner Rick Wingfield made the announcement at the annual Technology in Government conference, ZDNet reported. Winfield explained that the company has started prototyping in the area of identity, registries and e-voting.

"If we're going to successfully digitise the economy and the hard parts of the economy that haven't been digitised yet ... the hard things like health, education, and government services, those things require trust. If we're going to digitise some of those things, then we need to know someone is who they say they are," he said.

Wingfield highlighted security concerns if people's private information is put on a public ledger. He, however, said that the technology can help digitise the physical process of verifying a person's identity and can simplify registry accreditation. The incubation arm of Australia Post is also looking into is e-voting, as the pseudonymous nature of blockchain will ensure that people's votes will remain anonymous, similar to the current voting system, he said.

"[T]he [blockchain] technology has a really good use to creating a lot more control for the citizen; putting citizens in control of their data, and potentially using the two key infrastructure for citizens to jointly encrypt their data with whichever government, department, or corporate that owns that data, so it can only be unlocked with the two keys”, he said.

Earlier in March, reports suggested that Australia Post was considering blockchain technology to store digital identities, hoping that it will transform its service provision.