On November 20th, 2019, the SRC held a special Lunch Time Chat in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) at the SRC Conference Room in the CARICOM Research Building, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.

The topic was “The Promise of Blockchain for the Region”. The speakers were Annie Bertrand and Marcos Allende of the IDB. The session was moderated by Dr. Jan Yves Remy, SRC Deputy Director.

Ms. Bertrand presented the Blockchain Innovation Initiative that was launched last month to raise awareness about the potential value of blockchain technology for the Caribbean. She also provided details about the funding available to finance research and development in collaboration with the SRC and the IDB lab. A call for research on blockchain is available here.

Mr. Allende’s presentation gave participants a basic understanding of how the technology has evolved already to meet the needs of public entities such as customs, land/property/citizen registry, tax authorities, central banks and regulators in particular.

Blockchain is increasingly used by the governments in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), thanks to the support of the IDB and LAC. They are currently working on 20 projects including one with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) in Barbados.

Video Recording from the session

The session was also transmitted live via Zoom teleconference. The Zoom video recording may be accessed here: