French MPs Call for 500 Million Investment in Blockchain

Amid the civil turmoil over fuel price hike and the states’ constant struggle to keep the protest in check, two pro-crypto MP of the ‘Parlement français’ have asked for a 500 million euro investment to make France a ‘blockchain nation.’

A report published in financial newspaper Les Echos, deputies Jean-Michel Mis and Laure de La Raudière has put out a report outlining 20 measurements to support the development and adoption of the blockchain.

The two pro-crypto MPs have firmly put their case forward as they believe that 2019 will be the year of the blockchain. The 10-year-old technology is slowly emerging out of its experimental phase and going to find a wide range of modern applications. The MPs also pointed out the necessity to invest in new technology early, to be at the forefront of next industrial revolution. The concerns are understandable as they don’t want to miss the bus as they did in case of internet revolution in the 1990s.

The Perfect Time to Invest

De La Raudière in her interview to the Journal du Net, gave some perspective on the matter of urgency in adaptation. The French MP said,

“France must have a conquering philosophy on this subject, I’m sounding the alarm: It is time to invest…We must accelerate with French and European public money.”

The two MPs continuously emphasized the need of the government involvement as much as the public sector and suggested that the National Research Agency must make a significant investment. Mis and de La Raudière also talked about bridging the adaptation gap between the private sector and public sector.

Use of blockchain in public sector

The two MPs have undoubtedly put up a strong case for the adaptation of future technology, however, this is not the first initiative by the French government. Earlier in October, French grocery chain Carrefour adopted blockchain for the supply chain management and keep food contamination in check.

The Carrefour use of blockchain has undoubtedly given a boost to the new technology as the grocery giants have a mammoth 12,000 outlets. The distributed ledger system is used in the food supply chain to keep a track on eggs, chicken, tomatoes and many other farm products. The measure has been taken to prevent the outbreak of salmonella, a severe issue in the food supply-chain industry.

French PM is Pro-Crypto

French PM Laure de La Raudière is all pro for blockchain and crypto. He has echoed the viewpoints of two MPs and called for state-owned central banks to start issuing cryptocurrencies.

In November this year Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made similar appeals to the central bank of different nations. She also suggested that the banks of Sweden, China, Canada, and Uruguay were already looking for ways to draft policies for a safer crypto future.

Final Thoughts

France seems to be really behind the blockchain tech, and the fear of missing the industrial revolution bus in the 1990s have a significant part in it. At the time of internet revolution, most of the government and prominent industrialist put a blind eye calling it a dot-com bubble. The wealthiest man on earth today, Jeff Bezos is one of the many who bent for the change and look at him now.

Governments and centralized authorities around the globe must learn to adapt and mold itself for a sustainable future. France must set an example to the world and tell, look we have issues back at home, and we are trying to fix it, but we are also focusing on the future so that we are not just known for our problems.