{"id":26869,"date":"2024-08-04T12:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T12:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=26869"},"modified":"2024-08-29T21:20:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T21:20:53","slug":"the-end-of-the-parliamentary-blockchain-party-guest-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2024\/08\/04\/the-end-of-the-parliamentary-blockchain-party-guest-post\/","title":{"rendered":"The end of the Parliamentary Blockchain Party \u2014 guest post"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><i>Guest post by <\/i><b><i>Teodor Kreczmar-Schuldorff <\/i><\/b><i>(Fintech Influencer and Barman)<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember blockchain, the technology that was going to solve most of the world\u2019s problems, from <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/04\/10\/brexit-is-it-time-for-another-ill-informed-article-about-blockchain\/\">EU-UK border controls<\/a> to the provenance of sustainable tuna?<\/p>\n<p>Since it first became hyped as a universal panacea, the technology that underpinned the bitcoin cryptocurrency has largely become associated with <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2024\/06\/12\/the-australian-securities-exchange-chess-blockchain-seven-years-of-sunk-cost-fallacy\/\">failed IT projects<\/a> in the conventional world and fraud and ransomware in the crypto world.<\/p>\n<p>That did not stop a significant group of British MPs from jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 15 members of parliament, plus various Lords, signed up for the All-Party Group on Blockchain Technologies last year.<\/p>\n<p>If they had formed a party prior to the 2024 General Election, the Blockchain Party would have been the fourth largest party in parliament &mdash; with more seats than the Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Name<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Party<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Natalie Elphicke OBE MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative, Labour *<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>The Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sir Stephen Timms MP<\/td>\n<td>Labour<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Jo Gideon MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dr Lisa Cameron MP<\/td>\n<td>SNP, Conservative **<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Danny Kruger MBE MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Adam Afriyie MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lia Nici MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Antony Higginbotham MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Theo Clarke MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Jonathan Gullis MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nick Fletcher MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Chris Loder MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Paul Girvan MP<\/td>\n<td>DUP<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>James Sunderland MP<\/td>\n<td>Conservative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><i>* Elphicke <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Natalie_Elphicke#Defection_to_Labour\">defected from Conservative to Labour<\/a> in May 2024.<\/i><br \/>\n<i>** Cameron <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lisa_Cameron#September-October_2023:_%22Ostracisation%22_and_defection_to_Conservative_Party\">defected from SNP to Conservative<\/a> in October 2023.<\/i><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The group were united in their belief\u00a0 that \u201cblockchain\u201d was a powerful technology the UK needed to invest in: [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cryptoaltruism.org\/blog\/how-blockchain-can-empower-democracies\"><i>CryptoAltruism<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The group agreed that they will explore the potential of this powerful emerging technology for UK businesses, the public sector and the wider UK economy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So how did the Blockchain Party perform in July\u2019s election? Surely their commitment to blockchain demonstrated an understanding of technology, finance and innovation that would appeal to voters?<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, the electorate was unimpressed. 13 out of the 15 lost their seats, and one did not stand for re-election.<\/p>\n<p>You could argue that so many lost their seats because they were members of the Conservatives. After all, two thirds of Conservative MPs failed to be re-elected.<\/p>\n<p>But even that is better than the 93.3% failure rate of the Blockchain Party. Even Sir Stephen Timms, the sole survivor and only Labour MP in the group, saw his share of the vote <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/East_Ham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s\">fall from 77.8% to 51.7%.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maybe underappreciation of blockchain reflects a fundamental failing in the democratic system? To which the answer is obvious: <i>more blockchain<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>To quote Crypto Altruism:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Overall, blockchain and web3 technologies have the potential to revolutionize and rejuvenate democracy by increasing transparency, accountability, and participation. By leveraging the power of decentralized networks, we can build new tools that empower citizens to engage more directly in decision-making, and that create more inclusive and responsive political systems.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maybe all that potential will save the next group of MPs that want to give the impression of being cool by talking about blockchain. Obviously, they should <a href=\"https:\/\/pivot-to-ai.com\/\">pivot to AI.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2024\/08\/04\/the-end-of-the-parliamentary-blockchain-party-guest-post\/catalan-blockchain-ballot\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-26870\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-26870\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/catalan-blockchain-ballot.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/catalan-blockchain-ballot.jpeg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/catalan-blockchain-ballot-300x185.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/catalan-blockchain-ballot-348x215.jpeg 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><small>From the 2017 Catalonia independence referendum: a ballot box on a block and chain<\/small><\/i><\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>13 out of the 15 lost their seats and one did not stand for re-election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74,3845,457],"class_list":["post-26869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-blockchain","tag-teodor-kreczmar-schuldorff","tag-united-kingdom"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/catalan-blockchain-ballot.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26869"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26889,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869\/revisions\/26889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}