Coinify´s co-founder Mark Højgaard has been reviewing in a Forbes article and also on Coinify´s own blog the case for putting national currencies on a blockchain.
(Image Source: NASA)
As a matter of fact, last year Tunisia became the first country in the world to put its national currency on a blockchain, with Senegal being the second one. Still in Africa, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is testing a smart contract on an Ethereum-based private blockchain network including the Payments Association of South Africa, Financial Services Board, Strate and some of the country's major banks, namely Investec Bank, ABSA, Rand Merchant Bank and Standard Bank (source).
It is no surprise to me that Africa is leading the way in blockchain adoption, as the continent has an interesting track record in leaving the West behind as an early adopter of disruptive technologies with high societal impact. By and large, Africa moved from no telecommunications infrastructure straight into deploying pervasive mobile phone networks, skipping altogether the (now obsolete) landline phone phase.
Other countries, such as Singapore, are also involved in pilot projects to put fiat on a blockchain.
Leaving aside ideological reservations "blockchains are tools to decentralize processes and remove power from central governments, etc, etc, etc", I feel that blockchain/smart contract adoption by governments will be beneficial to society as the inherent efficiency/transparency gains will benefit consumers and reduce the room for corruption.