Blockchain Technology Streamlining Operations in Smart Cities
- by 7wData
A smart city goes by many definitions, but at its foundation lies the established relationship and cooperation between its public and private sectors, which are essential for every aspect of development. Â
Such include physical and digital infrastructure, data access and management, trade relations, utility services management, public relations, as well as emergency response and disaster mitigation procedures.
The concept of smart cities started with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), which integrates different technologies by bringing resources together to create an inclusive, efficient, transparent, and automated system of doing things.
Today, countless smart city technology programs all over the world are being used for efficient health care delivery, waste management, crime-fighting and mitigation, consumer satisfaction, traffic control, and smart home systems.
Many, if not all, of these systems, are efficient and have revolutionized service delivery, taxation, businesses, and infrastructure development. However, there are always a few hiccups, especially in situations requiring data sharing between the public and private sectors.Â
These problems include inflexibility, corporate interests, corruption, data access and hierarchy, transparency, data integrity, and many other factors that either slow development or make it hard for the system to work efficiently in real-time at full capacity.
blockchain technology, which started as a digital ledger for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is able to solve most if not all of these problems, some of which stem from lack of complete trust, adequate infrastructure, or vested selfish interests both in the private and public sectors.
Cities around the world, even those in the midst of transitioning from analog to digital systems, have started to look into blockchain technology to solve many of the problems present in centralized systems.
Before we look at the benefits that blockchain technology stands to offer to the development of a smart city, here are a few use cases that show the ambition and trust that developers and authorities have invested in the potential of blockchain technology.
Famous RnB singer Akon, who has always been heavily invested in developing African regions, recently finalized a deal with the Senegalese government to build acrypto-economy city, Akon, using his own cryptocurrency called Akoin.
The Akon City, the first of its kind in the world, is alleged to already be in development and is the test run for the 50-100 years development plan that, if successful, will be rolled out to other African countries. Akon said, “if it works, we will scale it out to all other countries in Africa, so all the cities are connected. It is going to be a 50-100 year project, most likely. I probably won’t even live to see it finished. But for the project in Senegal, We have a 10-year deadline for that city to be built out. “
Last year In Russia, the ruling partylaunched a blockchain-based electronic voting systemto curb widespread election fraud in the country. The instance wasn’t the first in the country as in the previous year, one of its southern regions, Saratov Oblast, reportedly had a successful blockchain-based e-voting election with approximately 40,000 people.
In the United States, tokenized real estate was estimated to be $17 Trillion as of 2019. As the pioneers in this sector, President of Elevated Returns, Stephane De Baets, was the first to launch a real estate security token offering (STO). Today, several blockchain platforms have specialized in real estate to offer affordable tokenized services in the industry, includingGalaxy Digital Holding, Harbor, Propellr, and Blockchain App Factory.
Other numerous projects around the world in all sectors of the economy are incorporating blockchain technology and the use of tokens to create a better ecosystem of how things should be run.
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