UK government considering paying research grants with Bitcoin

According to a report by the US news website Quartz on April 26, the British government is considering using Bitcoin and its blockchain technology to pay and monitor taxpayer-supported research funding grants.

According to reports, Matthew Hancock, Minister of the British Cabinet Office and Comptroller of the Treasury, said that the cabinet is very interested in this payment method and has begun to study and explore the specific operation methods.

"Regulating grants is an incredibly complex task and using blockchain technology may be a better way to address this issue," Hancock said at an event hosted by British think tank Digital Catapult.

Hancock spoke positively of Bitcoin's "distributed ledger technology," believing it to be a highly credible platform.

Blockchain is a distributed data storage model. It is the underlying technology of Bitcoin. It is like a database ledger that can record and track all transaction records. Previously, the British government has been carefully evaluating whether to use this technology: due to its "peer-to-peer" characteristics, the data stored in the blockchain cannot be tampered with, which can help reduce financial fraud, increase transparency, and reduce costs. Bitcoin, as a "digital cryptocurrency", is often used as a trading currency in the online black market.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne prefers to describe Bitcoin as "electronic currency". He has actively evaluated the potential of Bitcoin and expressed the hope that Britain can lead the development of world financial technology.

In fact, the UK Cabinet Office rarely provides specific details on discussing Bitcoin. Previously, a cabinet spokesman said that it is "possible" to use Bitcoin as a payment method, but still does not rule out the use of other special technologies. "The government is considering any form of regional blockchain technology, and Bitcoin is one of them. In some areas such as government subsidies, there is potential for the application of regional blockchain technology. It can be used to track transactions, and the high transparency it has can give taxpayers peace of mind."

In addition, the British government is also working to explore the role that digital currencies such as Bitcoin can play and how they should be regulated.

As the youngest finance minister in the UK in nearly a century, Osborne once said that he would strive to make the UK a "global financial innovation center." In 2014, Osborne personally operated a Bitcoin ATM to withdraw cash. In order to strengthen the research of this technology, Osborne announced in 2015 that he would allocate 10 million pounds to support the construction of related think tanks, including the Digital Catapult think tank, which specializes in electronic data research.

In January 2016, the British government released an important report on blockchain technology. The report, titled "Distributed Ledger Technology: Beyond Blockchain", mentioned that the British government and its chief scientist Mark Walport will invest in blockchain technology to analyze the potential of blockchain in the traditional financial industry.

The report states: “This technology has huge potential to transform public and private services - it redefines the way data is shared between government and citizens and will dominate government digital transformation plans. However, any new technology will certainly bring challenges, but if the relationship between leadership, collaboration and governance is managed well, distributed ledgers can bring great benefits to the UK.”