Oh Canada!
Today, news broke out that the Canadian Government has been identifying ways to utilize the Ethereum blockchain. They have already begun conducting live trials of a public blockchain designed to make their administration of government grants and contributions transparent.
The Canadian government, in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada and its Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), will be utilizing Bitaccess's Catena Blockchain Suite to accomplish this goal. This suite allows public institutions to publish complex datasets onto a Blockchain.
The NRC IRAP released a temporary prototype of the blockchain concept, which proactively publishes grants and contribution data in real-time .
Why This is Big
While experimental, this is an actual government entity actively seeking to integrate and adopt blockchain technology. It is a signal of mainstream adoption. This news comes just months after the Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) announced they would be experimenting with blockchain to help move payments between its U.S. and Canadian banks. Canada joins [Dubai] (https://cointelegraph.com/news/dubai-hosts-government-backed-graduation-of-ethereum-blockchain-developers), Switzerland, Singapore, Gibraltar, Russia, Estonia, and others on the list of Governments who have eagerly dived into implementing blockchain technology.
With all the FUD proselytized by the media and government officials in Korea and China, this comes as welcome news. More importantly, it comes as a reminder than while crypto is certainly flooded with shitcoins that offer little to know value, blockchain technology itself is here to stay.