Background

Increasing number of governments and organisations around the world are planning to pass regulatory legislation on blockchain and have demonstrated pilot projects centred around the application of blockchain technology. Developing countries can also leverage blockchain technology to provide process optimization and integrate hyperconnected services while bolstering trust and accountability. Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be leveraged to support an array of government and public sector processes, including land registration; identity management; supply chain traceability; health care; corporate registration; taxation; voting (elections and proxy); and management of legal entities. The structure of DLT poses inherent challenges to traditional approaches to regulation and governance. While enterprise or private blockchains have become more common in recent years and still allow for conventional governance and regulation frameworks, the challenges will develop as public, permission-less DLTs become more widely adopted.

Blockchain has attracted the attention of the power industry with its potential to support various use cases including electricity trading, green energy certificates, smart meter operations etc. In order to test the feasibility and stakeholders’ willingness in participation and adoption of new blockchain applications, a regulatory sandbox approach is gaining acceptability around the world.

This workshop is designed to examine the technological, policy and regulatory challenges in adoption of blockchain applications in utilities; and different models of governance and regulation in an increasingly decentralized world.