Bangladeshi IT companies have been deploying blockchain solutions across the world through training provided by the government, said State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak yesterday. 

“Through a centre of excellence on emerging technologies under Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), we have provided the training to around 200 developers in nine IT companies,” he said.

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“These companies are now deploying blockchain solutions in Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, the US and other markets,” he said.

Blockchain is a ledger of blocks of information, such as transactions or agreements, that are stored across a network of computers, writes the BCC.

This information is stored chronologically, can be viewed by a community of users, and is not usually managed by a central authority such as a bank or a government. Once published, the information in a certain block can’t be changed, it said.

If people try to tamper with that information, it becomes obvious. Ten years ago, blockchain was combined with other technologies to create cryptocurrencies, and the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, it added.

Palak was addressing a webinar on “Fasset presents the Blockchain Economy Summit 2021,” organised by Inspiring Bangladesh and Leveraging ICT for Employment and Growth of the IT-ITES Industry, a project of the BCC under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology.

He said IBM was the first partner of the centre while the BCC was working with Bangladesh Blockchain Olympiad as the host country of International Blockchain Olympiad in 2021.

He said the government’s main target was to provide citizen e-services.

The lack of data, information theft and increasing cyberattacks on government services have become a common phenomenon and any manipulation of critical information or data could affect the credibility of the system, he said.

“So, we need to utilise blockchain technology in providing citizen services and ensure the security of data,” he added.

Salman F Rahman, the prime minister’s private industry and investment adviser, said blockchain had emerged as a potent idea and response to bureaucratic incapability around the world to keep up with the rapid technological changes and transformations.

The technology is central to cryptocurrency, which has swept many developed countries and unnerved the financial system, he said.

“The blockchain has been gaining traction around the world for good and bad reasons. On the one hand, it’s a consequential concept of technology. One may seek to reduce the control of the authority on transaction and financial activities,” said Rahman.

“It seeks to completely overhaul the way we learn to manage assets, and organisational and government boundaries around them,” he added.

Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, and Md Sirazul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, also spoke.