Contrary to the idea behind the genesis of blockchain–to make financial transactions without the need for a government or bank–the largest deployer of blockchain technology currently is the World Bank. The underpinning vision of the recently launched blockchain lab at the World Bank is to ‘put power back into the hands of people.
Although it is still in its nascent stage, the World Bank’s blockchain experiments in the education, financial, agriculture, and pharmaceutical sectors have enhanced the learning curve of the organization. By partnering with Consensys, an Ethereum development company, the World Bank has attempted to improve a pilot-stage educational platform called Evoke.
The primary objective of this project was to bring more transparency to the monetary part of the deal, following which a crypto-token incentivization approach was to be taken to encourage kids to complete certain tasks. Asides, World Bank is also employing blockchain technology to enhance the transparency in the palm oil supply chain industry.
One of the concrete blockchain-based applications that the World Bank has developed recently is a bond that the organization has launched, which was aided by an Australian bank. Since bonds form a major part of a bank’s operation, the introduction of blockchain in this spectrum is certainly going to be a gamechanger. Not only will it ensure transparency around financing but also enable quick access to the marketplace. Conclusively, despite the opposing notion around the bitcoin blockchain, the World Bank is definitely stepping up to embrace newer technology for greater sustainability.
