Blockchain Primer for City CIOs

By Mark_Wheeler for Medium.com

I had the honor of hosting the City Leadership Forum organized by the Cities Institute for two days in Philadelphia. The forum brings together roughly 30 Chief Information/Technology and Innovation Officers plus smart city technology leaders from around the country (and from around the world) for focused conversation on relevant topics facing cities — but always with a policy and equity lens. This is a rare focus for a conference as often city CIOs are not often seen to be partners in policy formation or as leading from the front on implementations. However, when it comes to digital equity, municipal IDs and the unbanked, and data privacy in the public realm — city CIOs from Los Angles to Aurora, Wichita to Philly are on the forefront of these issues working side by side with Mayors and Managing Directors.

I was asked to give a primer on blockchain technology and point out government use cases. This request came out of some conversations I had with City Institute staff at the Smart City Expo and World Congress back in Nov 2021. What you see here is my take on the tech. I source the images and specific stats where applicable. Happy to take comments, iterate and improve this primer. It’s intended as an introduction and explainer, not a definitive and highly detailed document. In other words, restrain the geek out.

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/yIaMSp6KS6v0Qx?hostedIn=slideshare&page=upload