The .tax Blockchain hackathon ended with the victory of the Z Book team, which developed blockchain solutions to prevent tax fraud. The winners of the hackathon created a solution that can prevent tax fraud in a cash accounting system by using a blockchain-based electronic signature as a QR code. 40 participants, blockchain enthusiasts and young entrepreneurs from 11 countries, participated in a three-day or 48-hour event. At the same time, the hackathon was attended by representatives of public administration and blockchain experts from Finland, Estonia, Brazil and France. The hackathon was organised by the Ministry of Economics in cooperation with the State Revenue Service (SRS) and the start-up accelerator “Startup Wise Guys”.
Raimonds Aleksejenko, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics and a representative of the hackathon jury, points out: “We see tremendous potential of blockchain technologies in improving the security and usability of public administration services. The hackathon was a great dare for public administration to look at more creative methods for their daily processes, which proved that the use of blockchain technologies in the digitalisation of public services was possible. By involving the start-up ecosystem, IT specialists and blockchain enthusiasts from 11 countries, in 48 hours, blockchain solutions to prevent tax fraud were developed. Thus, with a sense of well-done work, we can conclude that the organisation of such events is capable of directing the Latvian public administration towards major changes and the ever-expanding introduction of new technologies”.
The hackathon’s main prize for the technically best solution and product compliance with the set challenges went to Z Book, which includes 10 hours of consultation from SRS and 8 hours of consultation from PwC.
The prize for the best presentation and tickets to TechChill 2020 went to “Request”. The prize for the greatest progress achieved during the hackathon, 10 hours of consultation from the SRS and the possibility to use Swedbank collaboration space “DoBe” all summer, went to “Tax4Crypto”. But two more teams, “Paperles” and “MDS”, gained the opportunity to participate in the “Startup Wise Guys” online acceleration programme.
Having looked at the solution resulting from the hackathon, the SRS Director General Ieva Jaunzeme emphasises: “I truly appreciate the responsiveness of technology specialists from around the world, who decided to participate in the three-day hackathon organised in Latvia and contribute to creating new ideas for the development of our cash register system”.
During the event, the teams were mentored by experts from the Ministry of Economics and SRS, as well as blockchain experts and mentors from Microsoft, Accenture, PwC, Guardtime, Finstart Nordic and OriginalMy, Imprimatur Capital, Fintelum, Blockvis. At the end of the hackathon, a Demo session was held, where the participants presented their ideas to an international jury composed of Raimonds Aleksejenko (Ministry of Economics), Vita Narnicka (SRS), Liza Aizupiete (Fintelum), Toby Moore (Imprimatur Capital Fund Management), Anatoly Ressin (Latvian Blockchain Association), Nikolai Johan Heum (Finstart Nordic) and Renāte Strazdiņa (Microsoft).
As it was reported, a .tax Blockchain hackathon was organised in Riga on 5-7 April to search for blockchain technology-based solutions for the public sector in the field of big data, modern technologies, tax fraud and cash accounting system.
Supporters of the hackathon: Microsoft, Accenture, Swedbank, PwC, Altum, VAS “Latvijas Valsts Radio un Televīzijas centrs”, VAS “Elektroniskie sakari”, Kapitāls, TechChill, Startin.lv.
More information on the event is available here.