UK Blockchain Report Proposes Creation of Chief Blockchain Officer Position

A Member of Parliament (MP) of the U.K. recently published a report urging the government to create the role of chief blockchain officer. Titled “Unlocking Blockchain,” the UK blockchain report posited that the country stands to greatly benefit from the technological advantages that the innovation offers, News BTC reported.

MP Eddie Hughes authored the report, with Freer publishing the paper. In the analysis, Hughes argued that a blockchain expert should be appointed by the U.K. government in order to oversee the technology’s growth and advancement in the country. Moreover, blockchain should also be included in the ministerial brief in order for parliament members to be updated with the latest news and development regarding technology, the report said.

“Embracing the opportunities of distributive ledger technology (DLT) should be fit explicitly —nominally as well as substantively — into a ministerial brief,” the analysis states. “And a public-facing ‘Chief Blockchain Officer’ should be appointed from within the government’s existing task force to coordinate the U.K.’s strategy regarding the application of DLT to public services and data.”

Aside from overseeing crypto, the U.K. blockchain report also proposed that the role should include other technologies, like artificial intelligence, when they start to overlap with blockchain’s borders. Indeed, this has already happened in some sectors such as the medical industry.

A similar role suggested by MP Hughes has already been appointed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new position is assigned to collaborate with all of the SEC’s divisions to create fair regulations regarding digital assets and the underlying technology.

Hughes’s report also suggested that the government announce Britain as a healthy blockchain ecosystem by launching a blockchain competition. This initiative is poised to encourage the proliferation of local blockchain projects and to attract leading crypto companies to establish headquarters in the region.

“This should ideally be established in collaboration with leading British universities, and funded by businesses that would benefit from improved national technological standards,” the report explained. “Blockchain and associated technologies clearly offer an immense opportunity for the U.K.”

Additionally, the U.K. blockchain report suggests that initiatives concerning this innovation be introduced to government departments to increase efficiency by 1 percent. This 1 percent increase can result in the saving of 8 billion pounds ($10.5 billion) based on the current data on operational costs. The amount that is saved can then be passed down to taxpayers to ease the financial burden of the populace.