RALEIGH – In the last couple of years the term ‘blockchain’ has reached top-tier buzzword status, as the technology that serves as the engine of products like Bitcoin and ‘smart contracts’ has become accepted as the next big thing. Now Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest is launching an initiative to explore the “unique attributes and use-cases” of blockchain.
As reported in CoinDesk, a leader in blockchain news, the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative will be a non-partisan initiative aimed to develop recommendations on how the tech can be used to boost opportunities for economic growth and cost efficiencies in the state.
From CoinDesk:
“[…] It’s also hoped the results of the work could boost North Carolina as a “leader in technological innovation.”
Alongside blockchain technology, the initiative will examine the potential of “virtual assets, smart contracts and digital tokens.”
Co-chairing the new body will be Faruk Okcetin of the North Carolina Digital Economy Hub; Daniel Spuller from the Chamber of Digital Commerce; and the Warp Institute’s Eric Porper. General members include individuals from technology, law, banking, business, government and policy. […]”
Of the initiative, Forest said, “It is my hope to provide a strategy to share with our General Assembly, Department of Insurance, Department of the State Treasurer, and other state agencies that will increase awareness, streamline regulatory oversight, and modernize state government.”
A few years ago the legislature passed and then-Governor Pat McCrory signed the Money Transmitters Act, which laid the groundwork for introducing regulatory frameworks for the expansion of blockchain technologies.
The North Carolina already has a decent reputation among technology interests via the Research Triangle Park, robust universities, and a strong information technology sector. Blazing trails in the structured proliferation of blockchain and figuring out how best to fold it into regulatory frameworks that provide adequate consumer protections could represent a new economic development horizon for the Old North State.
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