The vision of the future of blockchain for the Netherlands was received in The Hague by the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Mona Keijzer, and by the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Raymond Knops. The report was handed over by the ambassador of the Dutch Blockchain Coalition, the former mayor of Eindhoven Rob van Gijzel.

Due to its transparency and irrefutable nature, blockchain technology contributes to the fundamental trust in our societal infrastructure. That is the message of the Dutch Blockchain Coalition in its vision document "Blockchain for Good" that it presented on 7 December 2018.

Rob van Gijzel: 'The Dutch Cabinet would like to see the Netherlands and the European Union play a leading role in the development of new digital technologies. This vision and mission document describes how the Dutch Blockchain Coalition will fulfil that leading role for the development of blockchain technology. Worldwide, the Netherlands is seen as an example due to the collaboration between government, industry and knowledge institutes, the decision to develop applications relevant for society, and a wide range of experiments (use cases) that accord an important role to the government as legislator, supervisory body and user.'

Use cases for reliable and socially accepted blockchain applications

Focussing on the broad societal interest of blockchain is crucial, according to the coalition. Worldwide we see that the first blockchains for money (applications with clear financial advantages for the participants) and, in some countries, blockchains for control (gathering of data, sometimes even state control) have emerged. The development of blockchains for good (public interest and several partners from different sectors) are more complicated to realise. The Dutch Blockchain Coalition (DBC) is therefore spurring progress in its mission to create reliable and socially accepted blockchain applications.

In the vision document, five use cases for reliable and socially accepted blockchain applications are named that are being built on the basis of public-private cooperation. The applications are important for our economy, our society and for areas in which the Netherlands plays a leading role in the international arena. They are therefore demonstrably valuable applications of this new technology.

The selected use cases are:

1. Self-Sovereign Identity
With self-sovereign identity (SSI) solutions you have a digital safe with information about your identity that you can use, for example, for accessing your diplomas, purchasing a house or demonstrating that you are of a certain age. You manage your own data, which you can put to use in a wide range of situations. An infrastructure is being built for the digital identity and a new system of agreements. Accordingly, a basis is being laid for the provision of services from the government and companies in which people take centre stage instead of indivdual solutions that have been devised by a single organisation.

2. Logistics
Blockchain offers many opportunities for more transparent, reliable and honest logistics chains that result in fewer administrative burdens and more efficient transport. This subject has been chosen because the various initiatives in the area of logistics develop most rapidly, the logistical initiatives can be quickly scaled up worldwide, the Netherlands is an important player in logistics and because it will profit the Dutch economy the most.

3. Educational certificates and diplomas
By developing a generic building block for the Dutch and European blockchain infrastructure, official documents such as diplomas, certificates and registers can be reliably shared and verified. This case has already been tested on a small scale in several countries and is now ready for scaling up to the European level.

4. Pension
The changing employment market in which Dutch citizens change jobs faster en more frequently poses considerable administrative challenges for pension schemes that can result in uncertainties for pensioners. A simple question such as: ’how much pension have I built up where?’ can be answered more easily by using Blockchain technology than with the current systems.

5. Compliancy by design
Grant systems (subsidies) are now often highly complex for users and we sometimes read about abuses. What we need: more transparency and automation of processes so that it becomes easier for everybody. Blockchain offers that possibility. In the language of technology, that is: "Compliance by design". With this, we mean that the money is used for the intended purpose and in the intended manner.

A more detailed elaboration of the use cases can be read in the vision document.
This can also be downloaded as a PDF: https://dutchblockchaincoalition.org/uploads/pdf/Visiondocument-Blockchain-For-Good-EN.pdf

More about the Dutch Blockchain Coalition

The Dutch Blockchain Coalition (DBC) is a collaboration between partners from the government, knowledge institutes and industry. The aim is to create a safe, reliable digital blockchain infrastructure in the Netherlands that caters to the needs of the users of the future. The coalition works with an action agenda in which it tests the technological possibilities, examines whether the technology sufficiently complies with legislation and builds up research and training programmes in the field of blockchain. Internationally, the DBC makes agreements about standardisation, norms and governance. It does this, for example, with the ISO and the European Commission. More information: https://www.dutchblockchaincoalition.org.