Government Services, Smart Cities To Get A Blockchain Lesson: Kolkata To Host Two-Day International Event

The City of Joy is playing host to a two-day long Blockchain Congress 2018, where international experts will come together to discuss how governments can embrace blockchain-technology to provide better services to the public and how it can also be utilised to achieve the vision for ‘smart-cities’, reports TOI.

The event is organised by the Department of Information Technology and Electronics of the West Bengal government. The programme will be held today (Tuesday, 18 December) and tomorrow (Wednesday, 19 December) at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre.

An official of West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (WEBEL) stated, "International experts in blockchain from other countries and officials of our government will deliberate on how can this technology be used to provide better services and leverage it in other aspects of governance.”

Some of the notable speakers participating at the event are Bimal Roy of the Indian Statistical Institute, Bart Preneel, a Belgian expert on blockchain and cryptocurrency, Rosine Kadamani, co-founder of the Blockchain Academy in Brazil, among others.

A blockchain is a digitalised public ledger that is not subject to any central authority. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc are all based on specific blockchains.