The United Nations (UN) secretary-general António Guterres has signed off the decade by saying that the organization needs to embrace blockchain into the 2020s. The statement, which comes two months after China’s president Xi Jinping announced his intention for the country to widely adopt blockchain technology, fleshes out Guterres’ previous comments on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which he last made over a year ago.
Blockchain to Bring UN Into the “Digital Age”
Gutteres’ comments on blockchain came via a statement sent to Forbes, in which the secretary-general summarized his opinion of the technology which has seen huge adoption in recent years:
For the United Nations to deliver better on our mandate in the digital age, we need to embrace technologies like blockchain that can help accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
The UN brings in $50 billion in annual revenue, and it has so far used blockchain technology to increase assurance to donors that their donations are being spent as they wish, as well as streamlining the organization’s huge supply chain. Alongside this, the $6 billion United Nations Children’s Fund has begun accepting BTC and ETH donations for some of its projects, showing that they are not averse to some cryptocurrencies themselves as well as the underlying technology.
Following in China’s Footsteps
Should the UN push on with its desires to adopt blockchain technology on a wider scale, it will be following in the footsteps of China, whose president Xi Jinping famously gave the nascent technology his personal blessing in October this year, sending prices of some crypto projects, including Bitcoin, rocketing.
Guterres last mentioned blockchain in a meaningful way back in September 2018, when he talked about the “trust deficit disorder” he said could be solved, in part at least, by blockchain technology, in alliance with other technologies such as artificial intelligence.
