Bahrain Wants to Launch Blockchain-powered Vehicle Registry

Bahrain’s General Directorate of Traffic (GDT) has claimed it will launch a national, blockchain technology-powered vehicle registration system.

Per state-run news outlet Bahrain News Agency, the GDT is now looking for a technical partner “to design and implement” its new platform.

The announcement was made at the Gateway Gulf Forum, currently being held in the Middle Eastern country.

The news outlet quotes GDT’s Director General, Shaikh Abdulrahman bin Abdulwahab Al Khalifa, as saying, “This registry will be a vital advancement in reducing the overall cost of maintaining critical vehicle information, offer greater efficiency in terms of supply chain management, and ensure a high level of transparency for all stakeholders in the vehicle registration ecosystem.”

Last year, Khalid Al Rumaihi, the chief executive of the country’s Economic Development Board of Bahrain, said he hoped the country would be able to “issue bonds on digital currency,” and hinted that the country is currently working on a range of proposed uses for blockchain technology.

Per news outlet Arabian Business, Al Rumaihi also stated, “Blockchain will unlock so many different possibilities for business in the way email and internet did years ago. What would prevent Bahrain from becoming a leader in this space in the same way Singapore is?”