Speed, effectiveness, transparency

This process, in addition to being time-consuming, requires the use of specialized and technologically competent personnel to avoid the emergence of critical issues related to the misuse of digital tools.
Leveraging distributed records in traditional settings can return enormous benefits in terms of speed, effectiveness, transparency and complexity of performance and services offered.
In a landscape of technological development and growth, the first to benefit from the modernization of obsolete structures related to public administration are the end users of public goods and services, namely citizens.
Today, the process of a bureaucratic file, from initiation to closure, takes an extremely long time and involves a large number of officials who take turns according to the required task.

The Italian Blockchain Service Infrastructure (IBSI)

In the pandemic period, when offices were inevitably closed, the need to make government apparatuses more streamlined and allow access to information directly from home became evident.
To keep up with the times, PA must be able to innovate by moving without delay toward new technologies in a conscious but, at the same time, dynamic way.
With the adoption of blockchain, we enter a new structural paradigm that constitutes a break with the traditional system.
For public administrations, the possibility of ensuring transparency and traceability, through the use of distributed ledgers, is a huge advantage that allows them to win the trust of citizens. The IBSI (Italian Blockchain Service Infrastructure) is an initiative created at the proposal of the Digital Italy Agency and other public administration entities, with the ultimate goal of creating a network capable of enhancing the services made available by PAs.
The public utility platform finally places the citizen at the center by ensuring more agile accessibility to services and communications aimed at him or her.

The citizen master of his own data

The essential features of the blockchain (immutability, traceability and transparency) become solid foundations for building trust among all stakeholders. By increasing information sharing to improve business models, citizens once again become masters of their own data and, like other blockchain nodes, can access and make personal information available in an active rather than passive manner.

The most consistent benefits are found in documentation management. The numerous certificates, both paper and digital, can be entered into the platform, thus avoiding overloading the administration’s servers and allowing each user to access the information he or she needs in an agile and fast way, through digital identity.
The use of blockchain, in fact, guarantees citizens a secure and shared ID, which could facilitate bureaucratic processes and reduce tax evasion and crime.
The digital identity, which contains within it data and information that define the individual, transforms the taxpayer into an active and dynamic user: through passwords and codes, the citizen has access to all the necessary information and can sign, in full and secure autonomy, documents through digital signature.
Today among the most common tools related to digital identity is SPID, or the Public Digital Identity System through which, once a user name and password are obtained, it is possible to access all public administration services from any device (smartphone, tablet or PC). SPID can be activated directly by the citizen already upon reaching the age of majority as long as he or she is in possession of an identity document.
Digital identity and NFTs can ensure the uniqueness of documents and physical and digital assets: any document can be transformed into a token linked to the ID of the natural person, ensuring that the citizen has full control of the documentation related to him or her. With this in mind, one can envision an economy based on the creation of tokens by the PA that are intended to reward deserving citizens by giving rise to a virtuous process that is based on the exchange of NFTs.

Some obstacles, many advantages

The main obstacles, which may stand in the way of this new path of digitization, lie mainly in a jurisprudence that is still embryonic compared to the rapid technological advances, which have allowed the exponential growth of related proceedings. In fact, a legal deficiency and late updating of jurisprudence make it difficult to protect citizens and companies should disputes of a different nature arise.

In conclusion, the benefits brought by the introduction of blockchain in the digitization process of public administration can be summarized in three major blocks:

• Thanks to the principle of transparency and verifiability of information, the risk of manipulation and fraud can be contained;
• Some processes that are traditionally carried out manually by government personnel could be automated, thus reducing both costs and time spent;
• Automation of activities would reduce human error and limit information loss during data management, providing citizens with greater integrity and quality.

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This type of crime, to date, is one of the most fruitful. There are several areas in which web pirates can exploit their cyber knowledge to the detriment of third parties: there are not only online scams, but theft of data and sensitive information belonging to network users is increasingly common. Often the intention comes from a hacker, that is, an individual who, individually or with others, uses strategies to enter the computer circuit and block it.
The solutions indicated by the use of blockchain against cybercrime, to prevent and foil cyber attacks, are proving useful and promising.

The data security benefits associated with blockchain

The many advantages are closely related to the transparency and incorruptibility of distributed platforms. The decentralized nature of data makes it particularly difficult to access and manipulate a server.
Because of the branched structure, in fact, the hacker is forced to change the information in all nodes of the network at the same time. In contrast, in centralized platforms, all information is contained in a central node.
In the distributed platform, this procedure, given the large number of nodes, is extremely complex and even more expensive, and essentially unworkable.
In this case, the scalability of the platform and the increase in network participants become additional guarantees for the security of the recorded data and the users who are part of it.
This structure greatly simplifies the work of attackers who, by gaining access to the core of the network, can get hold of valuable information, block the circuit and steal money.

Nodes, incorruptible allies against cybercrime

The blockchain records all the information of network participants: it is essential that each node be traceable to a natural person to protect the fairness of exchanges. Despite this, privacy is guaranteed since each network participant corresponds to a cryptographic address, which everyone can know, but which hides the owner’s sensitive data. Subjects, therefore, become users who operate a vigilant control over what happens within the platform.

The blockchain, because of its branched structure, becomes more secure as time passes and as it becomes more widely used. Each time a blockchain or node is added, information protection becomes stronger and vigilant control by participants increases.
Thus, the more users there are, acting as guarantors for each other, the more difficult it is to manage or modify all nodes and blocks simultaneously. For example, if one block were to be deleted from the chain, the information on it would still be present on all the others, which would allow information to be preserved and protected.

To understand how blockchain can change the approach to cybercrime problems, let’s take a practical example. August 2021, Lazio Region portal during the vaccination campaign. A hacker attack blocked the site preventing access to citizens, who had no way to retrieve the necessary information or register for vaccine administration.
Through a decentralized system, rather than centralized software, a hacker attack would have been exponentially more unlikely. And, in any case, it would have had less effect on recovery time and sharing of necessary information with citizens. This, again because of the presence of data on different nodes of the network, guaranteed by the blockchain.

Safer companies with blockchain

From a business perspective, turning to blockchain can be a turning point. Both in terms of streamlining data management through private blockchains and in terms of security. A company that stores its data on a distributed ledger makes witnesses to the exchanges taking place within the platform, all those who have the keys to access it. At the same time, it prevents malicious parties from making changes to what is entered into the registry.

All companies should follow technological progress to keep up with the growth and development of competitors. Blockchain can provide many solutions, including fighting cybercrime. Therefore, many large companies are putting in place strategies to experiment with distributed platforms and IoT not only to assess their benefits, but also to know their weaknesses to be contained.

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The blockchain to identify the best opportunities

First, these innovative technologies can be leveraged to identify, by both clubs and sponsors, the most cost-effective contracts for each form of business, in terms of affinity and economic value.

Large sports clubs can make the most of smart contracts. The advantage of not having to manage and control the correct performance of the clauses preparatory to the termination of the contract (thanks to the blockchain), translates into a huge saving of time and expense.
The stipulated sponsorships can be much more detailed also from a geographical point of view: hyperlocalising the investments, from an economic point of view, is considerably more advantageous.
Speeding up processes and reducing costs are the first two steps towards the future of sponsorship, and the resulting benefits could also benefit the individual athletes they are aimed at.

Smart Contracts and sponsorships of the future

The first key step in establishing a contract, entered into a distributed registry, is to find the most appropriate sponsorship format. Clubs and sponsors identify the partner that best meets their business needs from a database. Once the eligible parties have been identified, the negotiation phase begins, in which the key conditions for the parties to sign the agreement are established. Only once these conditions are determined, the contract will be registered on blockchain and will acquire legal validity. Sponsors, in this way, can identify the most suitable clubs in a timely, selective and cost-effective manner. The same applies to clubs.

Another advantage is found in the possibility to establish a priori thresholds of expectation: for example, the definition of a minimum turnout of participants at the event below which the sponsorship is considered ineffective. If the assumptions set out in the contract are not met, the next stage of the contract will not take place. For example, if attendance at an event does not meet the established criteria, the sponsor may pay a proportionately reduced payment. Conversely, in the optimistic event that the thresholds are abundantly exceeded, clubs can receive increased rewards. It is up to the blockchain to transparently monitor the successful outcome of negotiations.

Blockchain for athletes and clubs, culture and entertainment

Today, contracting through distributed platforms and smart contracts is primarily leveraged by clubs and businesses.
In the not too distant future, however, the model could be extended to individual athletes as well as those in the arts and culture sector. Artists, journalists and those who benefit from copyright, through smart contracts, can sell their products avoiding labels and therefore interacting directly with their audience.

Small sports clubs, which are struggling in the traditional sponsorship market, may find interesting new opportunities through blockchain. For example, the technology can help local sports by facilitating the selection of local businesses for clubs in the same geographic area. In this way, profits would grow for “smaller” realities that can take advantage of the investments of local businesses.

Another area of application is advertising space on the sidelines at sporting events. These, often, remain unsold due to the very long time required for the negotiation and conclusion of agreements, as well as due to the high costs of the long chain of intermediaries. Failure to sell space translates into a substantial economic loss. Through blockchain technologies the time of negotiations can be shortened considerably, and up to a few hours before the event it becomes possible to sell advertising space. And through the elimination of third-party figures, costs can be significantly reduced, while increasing the transparency and security of the partnership.

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