Antonio Guterres "Digital Cooperation High-level Group" was established, which will focus on blockchain technology

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in the "United Nations News" released on July 12 that he created a "digital cooperation high-level group" to clearly include blockchain technology on the agenda.

The group is said to be the "first such group" and will convene 20 celebrities from industry, civil society and academia to discuss the impact of digital technology on the global economy and society-in the words of ancient Guterres Said that this influence is developing on an "unprecedented scale" and spreading at "high speed".

Ambassador Amandeep Gill, Executive Director and Co-Chairman of the United Nations Secretariat, who represents this new agency, said: “If you don’t look at the blockchain or artificial intelligence (AI), you will not be able to access'web 3.0'. We hope to address these differences. Discussions in the digital field [...] In terms of human rights, privacy, and the subversion of democracy, we can come up with some common principles... to strengthen cross-border cooperation."

Gill emphasized the "opportunities and risks and unintended consequences" of digital transformation and raised concerns about cyber attacks and suspicious election tampering.

The ambassador believes that the expert group's "cross-cutting" approach to new technologies such as blockchain and AI can play a "maximum" effect within its nine-month mandate.

The UN Secretary-General also revealed that the co-chairs of the committee are American philanthropist Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

According to blockchain network reports, as early as the summer of 2016, Jack Ma launched blockchain technology through Alibaba's Ant Financial. Since then, the company has raised $14 billion in funding for blockchain development projects and recently successfully completed the first blockchain remittance.

Ma recently stated that "the impact of blockchain on the future of mankind may be far beyond our imagination," and his appointment as the co-chair of the new UN team marks a positive step in the global spread of this technology.

For its part, the United Nations has long been exploring multiple-mostly humanitarian-use cases for blockchain, such as using the Ethereum blockchain to provide Syrian refugees with cryptocurrency-based coupons.

Since then, it has also experimented with a blockchain-based digital identification system aimed at combating child trafficking worldwide. In April this year, the Belgian government contributed 2 million euros to promote a blockchain project, implemented by the World Food Program (WFP), which allows the United Nations to use the technology to save hungry refugees in impoverished areas.