Finance Minister Of Japan Says Blockchain Can Help Fight COVID19

The Finance minister of Japan Taro Aso said blockchain could provide a solution to COVID contract tracing which will also emphasize privacy as we are reading more in today’s blockchain news.

The Finance minister of Japan Taro Aso suggested that blockchain will be a key role in the world’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic as the technology can be used for contact tracing while still ensuring privacy. Aso gave the opening remarks on the blockchain Global Governance Conference that is known as the FIN/SUM Blockchain Business in Tokyo:

“In the battle against widespread infectious diseases, blockchain provides one solution for contact trading.”

There are about 24 million Covid19 cases across the world and about 60,000 of them are in Japan. Despite the speech Aso gave, there was a limited number of people that were allowed to physically attend the conference while others were watching through live stream coverage. The finance minister acknowledged that while the threat imposed by the virus has not been subsided yet, the blockchain technology can provide privacy for anyone that is testing positive via contract tracing. In addition, the technology will give the authorities a better look at what needs to be done regarding the containment which will eventually prevent outbreaks in the future.

Aso added that the conflict between the blockchain community and the Japanese regulators has to be addressed in order to get some progress in this regard:

 “Some of the blockchain communities may still be hostile to regulators because of the belief they may hinder innovation due to a lack of understanding of the technology. What we need is to work together and collaborate to consider the best use of technology under the best governance.”

Japan’s finance minister is not the first regulator that proposed a blockchain as a solution for some of the main problems in the country given the COVID pandemic. The CEO of financial giant SBI Holdings said that the technology will be quite useful in tracking and tracing the supply chain for essential materials including masks.

Japan’s FSA chief says that the country has no plan in deregulating Bitcoin trading and that there’s no need to promote cryptocurrencies but working on CBDCs is a must. he head of the Japanese Financial watchdog said that there should be more focus on central bank digital currencies than the promotion of cryptocurrencies that are not pegged to the fiat such as BTC.