US Department of Homeland Security Prioritizes Blockchain Managers as ‘Critical Infrastructure’ Employees

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a memorandum, which has cited ‘blockchain managers’ as the country’s “essential critical infrastructure” employees.

Four days before, the DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) rolled out a memo stressing the ‘special responsibility’ of workers within a ‘critical infrastructure industry’ to sustain usual working routine amidst the escalating coronavirus spread.

The document mentions blockchain administrators, in addition to healthcare, food supply and pharmaceutical companies as “critical infrastructure industries.”

The addition of blockchain administrators on CISA’s register signals the DHS’s acknowledgement of the capability of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to be deployed in coronavirus relief steps.

In China, blockchain technology is powering over 20 apps that support government’s relief efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This includes apps which handle and monitor health documents, medical info and medical deliveries.

Private-public relief mesures employing blockchain have also demonstrated their capability. This includes Alipay’s DLT platform, which permits charitable donations to be monitored without any restrictions.

In Hong Kong, insurers are looking at DLT as a method to simplify the documentation procedures to be followed for health-care costs, with Ant Financial rolling out a ‘collective-claims’ software to quicken turnaround times.