Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
November 13, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- Today, the largest
Australian bank announced that it has been partnering with a
division of the Australian government to research a specific usage
for Bitcoin. Just like almost every other finding in the space,
this one is supposed to a unique one.
According to Cointelegraph and
Business Insider Australia, these two entities have successfully
completed a pilot of what appears to be a centralized fork of
Bitcoin. On the surface, the only difference between this token and
Bitcoin appears to be that it will be tightly controlled by Data61
and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which are the two entities
responsible for creating it. In this context, it should be made
clear that Data61 is representing the interests of the country’s
government with regards to this project.
As to how this is specifically
playing out, keep in mind first that they putting their token under
the umbrella of research related to making money smart. Here, by
the term smart, they seem to mean that the token’s use cases will
be precisely detailed by its creators. Cointelegraph reports that
this means it will fit the needs of those looking to run insurance
payouts as well as those looking for better budgeting and
management for charitable organizations and trusts on the
Blockchain.
What you might be thinking at this
point is: why? Why is this effort special? Why do they not just use
Bitcoin or another existing Cryptocurrency?
Well, first, it’s the
government.
They do not want to seem like they
are losing control of something, at least not in most cases.
Second, the primary use case for this network is a more specific
example of one of those that have already been mentioned
above.
At its core, it is meant for
running payments from Australia’s national disability insurance
providers to those who are insured and need these payments. In
effect, we can conclude that they found the blockchain to be
quicker and more trustable in doing so. Since it is an immutable
ledger, no one will be able to reliably dispute who was or was not
paid at what time, in what amount.
Furthermore, since this project was
mostly built for this particular purpose, it is easy to see why
they want it to be centralized, even if you do not agree with their
idea. There are significant risks involved with making something
that comes from the government decentralized, including the system
being hacked. Nobody wants a large group of average citizens to
lose the disability insurance payments that they might be depending
on.
In the end, while this is not
Bitcoin and not really a Cryptocurrency either, it is a move
towards a government fully accepting money in a fully digital form.
Furthermore, Australia is still one of the most progressive
countries with regards to Cryptocurrency related regulations as a
whole.
By: BGN Editorial Staff