A Canadian body called The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) announced on Monday, August 20th, that it has built an Ethereum blockchain explorer. The NRC manages a Canadian-government-funded research program named the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) and it is this program which is hosting its own Ethereum blockchain explorer.

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Ethereum Blockchain Explorer

IRAP has implemented the blockchain-based app on InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). A protocol which enables peer-to-peer storing and sharing of data on a distributed ledger. In this case, the explorer will allow users to search the Ethereum blockchain for government contracts such as grants, applications, and contribution data.

And according to the release, the IPFS blockchain browser has been implemented through services provided by blockchain startup Bitaccess.

NRC said that by using IPFS, it ensures web applications are “unalterable and can be accessed far into the future”.

More Transparency

The goal of the project is to build a more transparent administration of government contracts and overall, to use the technology to help administer funding to Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses for innovative projects.

The “first live trial” of public blockchain technology using the Ethereum blockchain actually was launched by NRC back in January, and since that launch, the program has been actively exploring additional ways to incorporate blockchain technology to new and existing applications.

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Early Days

The NRC continued:

“These are early days, but NRC IRAP’s experiments with blockchain are expected to provide constructive insight into the potential for this technology and how it may be used for more open and transparent operations for public programs.”

The IPFS

The IPFS came to international attention when it’s aim of storing multiple copies of data in a more “permanent web” was worrisome for many who felt at the time that the US’s new administration would manipulate and/or make data from government agencies disappear.

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