UN to Train Governments to Actually Use Blockchain, Not Just Talk About It

The United Nations Development Programme is moving from theory to practice on blockchain. After years of publishing research, holding panels and name-checking distributed ledgers in development reports, the UNDP is now launching a program to train governments directly on how to deploy blockchain in real projects. The idea is simple: too many public institutions see the technology, understand its promise for payments, digital identity or supply chains, but have no in-house capacity to build or supervise it. The UN wants to close that gap by providing structured education and hands-on implementation support to a first group of four governments, then scaling from there. It is a signal that blockchain is no longer being treated as a curiosity inside multilateral bodies, but as a tool that should sit in the normal policy toolbox of emerging and developing economies. 

According to the programme outline, this will not be a “slide deck only” exercise. UNDP teams will work with participating governments on real use cases that have already shown promise in pilot environments: improving financial access for the unbanked by using crypto rails for small-value transfers; enhancing transparency in public procurement and community projects; and strengthening identity systems so that citizens can access services without relying on fragile paper records. The agency says it has catalogued “hundreds” of potential applications across its country offices, and that more than 20 countries have already experimented with blockchain-based initiatives. Now, rather than letting these pilots stay isolated, the UNDP wants to create a repeatable way for ministries, regulators and development agencies to adopt them. 

The move comes at an important moment in the technology’s political life. Blockchain has reached the stage where it can either empower citizens—by making cash transfers cheaper, records more tamperproof and public spending more visible—or it can be folded into centralized systems that give governments more control over data and transactions. The UNDP’s own article acknowledges this fork: the technology is neutral, but the choices around it are not. Training, then, is not just about teaching someone to write a smart contract; it is about giving public officials enough knowledge to choose open standards, to ask the right questions about custody and privacy, and to avoid handing over critical infrastructure to a single vendor. In development contexts, that can be the difference between a resilient public service and another shiny pilot that dies when the consultant leaves. 

There is also a geopolitical subtext. As more countries explore central bank digital currencies, tokenized government bonds, cross-border payment platforms and digitally traceable aid flows, the risk is that standards get written for them, not with them. A UN-backed training effort helps level the playing field, especially for small and lower-income states that want to modernize but lack large digital ministries. If these governments understand how to evaluate blockchain solutions, they can negotiate better, integrate with regional platforms more easily, and ensure their systems stay interoperable with global ones. It also reduces the temptation to default to private, permissioned systems that lock out citizens or competing providers.

At a more practical level, bringing the UN’s development arm into the blockchain conversation reassures policymakers who are wary of the crypto industry’s volatility. When the sponsor is the UNDP rather than a token issuer, blockchain looks less like speculation and more like digital infrastructure. That framing matters for ministries of finance, central banks and social protection agencies that have to defend new IT spending to parliaments and auditors. A structured UN-backed curriculum gives them a map: here is what works, here is what has been piloted in 20 countries, here is how to govern it.

In short, the UN is telling governments: if you keep waiting for perfect clarity, you will miss the phase where standards and best practices are being set. Better to learn now, experiment safely, and decide for yourselves whether blockchain in your context should push power outward—toward citizens and local communities—or inward, toward a more centralized state.

Sources: Bitcoinsensus, “UN to Train Governments on Blockchain Use,” citing UNDP programme details.