Microsoft Opens Door to Government Blockchain Use

The U.S. government's most sensitive data could soon be secured on a blockchain.

Azure Government Secret will offer advanced analytics and more advanced "detection" abilities to clients who use "secret classified data," according to a statement.

With all this, Russinovich heralded the project as a new way for governments to take advantage of blockchain's efficiencies and for taxpayers to hold their governments accountable.

Waste reduction

There's no doubt that waste reduction is needed in the workings of the U.S. government.

Last year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report on "Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication," citing 544 instances of waste totaling billions of dollars in the executive branch and Congress alone.

And it seems some agencies are interested in finding a solution. For instance, just last week the U.S. State Department (which is a Microsoft customer) cited blockchain as a possible way to reduce inefficiencies.

"And there's potential for fraud and waste there that blockchain's transparency and reconciliation process will eliminate."

While the Government Secret platform announced today is so far limited only to U.S. government agencies, Microsoft's Government Cloud clients include 7,000 agencies and 10 million employees all around the world.

Russinovich was unable to confirm whether or not any U.S. government agencies were already using the new services, but officials from Health and Human Services and the U.S. Veteran's Affairs Department will be speaking on stage at the event about the project.

And with other U.S. government clients including branches of the Federal government, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, Russinovich expects a number of new government blockchain applications to be forthcoming.

Russinovich said:

"In our work with government agencies, we've seen a huge interest in blockchain."