It is no longer a cliché to talk about the dizzying advance of technology, how it is changing and facilitating our lives, contributing to the development of new markets, and helping to reduce gaps. Technology is a reality that we cannot look askance at, whatever the industry in which we operate because, in order to offer cutting-edge products and services, we need to be on the innovation bandwagon.

Likewise, governments cannot look away from technological advances that can help improve their management, provide greater transparency and, therefore, greater public confidence, which, as we know, is in crisis, in a world context convulsed by populism, authoritarianism, recession, war, pandemic, among other threats.

One of the latest innovations comes from the blockchain, which is revolutionizing various markets through greater transparency and inviolability of information. It is a blockchain, or something like a database that facilitates the recording of transactions or documentation, created to prevent information from being modified once it is published, making it incorruptible.

Although this technology was born as the architecture of cryptocurrencies, its uses currently go much further. It is already being used in the banking, medical, automotive, retail, or insurance sectors, especially to provide traceability to the supply chain or processes, to digitize and manage data, records, or procedures, or to manage inventories. Basically, the massification of its use is due to the fact that blockchain solves several reliability problems and offers greater process efficiency.

And in this context, blockchain is an opportunity to support the fight against corruption, since it safeguards information through end-to-end encryption, recording it identically in multiple locations, i.e., in a decentralized manner. Thus, the data is sealed, ensuring its integrity, preventing it from being modified, reducing the risk of fraud or falsification, preserving evidence, systematizing good practices, and providing greater transparency and traceability of processes, which in turn, allows identifying possible weaknesses in the chain.

Thus, this tool is an ally for compliance, since thanks to this technology it is possible to generate a digital fingerprint of each document, accessing historical and original information, and allows both companies and governments to follow up on each action they take, exercising greater control and oversight. Likewise, they will be able to ensure a possible future defense -in case of a possible corruption investigation-, proving that their practices were well implemented.

Thus, this tool is an ally for compliance, since thanks to this technology it is possible to generate a digital fingerprint of each document, accessing historical and original information, and allows both companies and governments to follow up on each action they take, exercising greater control and oversight. Likewise, they will be able to ensure a possible future defense -in case of a possible corruption investigation-, proving that their practices were well implemented.

Technology solves everyday domestic problems, and others as deep as preventing corruption, which is rooted in our culture. If we still see it from afar, it is time to make it part of the big challenges, and blockchain is a good alternative.

La Tercera