Federal Agencies, Blockchain, and New Opportunities

Federal agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the Department of Treasury are using blockchain. It makes sense, as blockchain is famous for its transparency, efficiency, security as well as flexibility.

For example, officials in the FDA needed an effective way to help them track data on the HN1 swine flu virus. This virus began to spread again in 2017. Interestingly, officials in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration came to the conclusion that it was possible to reach this goal by adopting blockchain technology.

It is worth noting that, an employee of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, successfully developed a blockchain-based application. This application automatically enables them to obtain encrypted data in real-time, from many sources.

People should take into consideration that, the real-time Application for Portable Interactive Devices (RAPID) program is one of the first full-blown implementations of blockchain in the federal government. Moreover, the interest in the technology is growing and this fact once more underlines the importance of blockchain technology.

Blockchain and various applications

It is possible to use this technology for other purposes as well. The Department of Treasury’s Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) also decided to use blockchain. Interestingly, its first application was for tracking mobile devices. Also, the purpose of the second application was to handle software license management.

Furthermore, the Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation also tested whether it was possible to improve grant payment processes by using blockchain. The FIT worked with the National Science Foundation to explore this topic.

This is not the end of the story, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also using distributed ledger technology. The HHS is using this technology to increase its bulk purchasing power and to reduce its reporting burden. Moreover, the HHS is utilizing the distributed ledger technology when it comes to reducing costs for industry partners. Also, to improve record-keeping for vendor transactions.