Blockchain technology that underpins digital currency such as bitcoin has been gradually moving from the ‘hype phase’, seen for the most part of 2015, to actual ‘experimentation phase’ with the advent of various blockchain consortiums and alliances.

Now the White House has acknowledged the potential of the technology to help advance the financial well-being and economic prosperity. 

In a blog post published on the official White House website, Adrienne Harris, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, said that the White House on Friday convened stakeholders from across the fintech ecosystem, including traditional financial services institutions, fintech startups, investors, thought leaders, and policy makers, to discuss how fintech can help advance critical economic policy priorities.

“From consumers’ financial health to growing and managing small businesses; from cybersecurity to helping developing nations prosper; and from big data to blockchain – we spent the day identifying those areas where partnership across industries and between the public and private sectors can help advance our financial well-being and economic prosperity”, Harris said.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker moderated a panel focused on the government’s role to help ensure that innovators have the capacity and resources to create products, services, and businesses that ultimately advance the country’s economic competitiveness. To that end, the panel noted the recent partnerships that are being forged in this space and highlighted the important role of government in ensuring that these partnerships can reach their full potential.

In addition, the panel discussed the intersection of fintech and small and medium business enterprises (SMEs); big data and civil rights; the intersection of fintech, financial inclusion, and financial health; and how fintech is becoming an increasingly potent enabler of development goals.

This follows the recent discussions at an event with blockchain- and FinTech-based theme, hosted by the Federal Reserve, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC. During the event, Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, encouraged central banks to learn about financial innovations including bitcoin, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.