Public services increasingly rely on digital systems that enable institutions to collaborate across organizational and national boundaries. Such cooperation may involve government agencies verifying documents issued by other authorities, or humanitarian organizations coordinating assistance while safeguarding sensitive personal information. Yet technical interoperability alone does not resolve a more fundamental question: who controls the infrastructure on which this cooperation depends?
Ethereum offers a different foundation for digital public infrastructure. It is a global network that no single organization controls, and its software is open source for anyone to inspect, use, and build on.
Our new website, https://publicsector.ethereum.foundation/, explores what these characteristics could mean for governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and other public-interest institutions. It brings together accessible explanations of Ethereum, case studies of real-world implementations, and practical resources for institutions considering its potential uses. At its heart is the idea that Ethereum can support cooperation through neutral, shared infrastructure while helping preserve institutional and individual sovereignty.
Institutional sovereignty and individual agency
When shared infrastructure is operated by a single organization, other participants may depend on that provider for continued access or verification of records. For public services expected to endure beyond individual contracts and political cycles, such dependencies can have significant consequences.
Ethereum allows institutions to use shared infrastructure without granting any single organization control over the underlying network. They can independently verify records and choose how they access the network, including through different service providers or their own infrastructure. At the same time, they retain authority over their own policies and systems.
For individuals, sovereignty concerns control over personal information and the freedom to decide what to disclose. Applications using Ethereum can be designed so people hold their own digital credentials and choose how to present them. Services can verify the authenticity of these credentials without requiring the underlying personal information to be published on Ethereum. This allows institutions to retain responsibility for the information they certify, while individuals exercise greater control over how that information is held and shared.
From principles to practice
For communities spread across Bhutan’s mountainous terrain, accessing services in person can involve long and costly journeys. Bhutan’s National Digital Identity (NDI) system supports remote identity verification using digital credentials issued by authorized organizations. Rather than storing these credentials in a centralized government database, individuals hold them in their own NDI Wallets and decide what information to share when accessing services. A shared registry on Ethereum helps participating services verify the authenticity of these credentials without publishing them on the network.
Bhutanese institutions remain responsible for determining which organizations can issue trusted credentials, while individuals retain greater control over their personal information.
Read the Bhutan NDI case study
A different challenge arises in humanitarian assistance, where organizations serving overlapping populations need to coordinate support without unnecessarily sharing sensitive personal records.
Drawing on discussions with humanitarian organizations and work with engineers and product leads, the Ethereum Foundation’s Technical Foundations team developed a proof of concept exploring how aid coordination could work on Ethereum’s public network while protecting sensitive personal information.
The approach combines decentralized identity and private payment mechanisms. Participating organizations can coordinate through shared infrastructure without needing to exchange the personal records they hold, or rely on a single agency to operate the underlying network. Each organization retains responsibility for the information it collects and the assistance it provides.
The Technical Foundations team has published a series of articles examining the proof of concept in greater depth, including its technical design, key learnings, and directions for future development.
Read the Technical Foundations articles
A shared foundation for the public interest
The long-term promise of digital public infrastructure is not simply that more services can be connected. It is that institutions can cooperate without surrendering their independence, while individuals can participate in digital systems with greater control over their personal information. Ethereum can support both objectives through open, shared infrastructure that no single organization controls.
For institutions interested in what this could mean in practice, https://publicsector.ethereum.foundation/ provides a starting point for understanding Ethereum’s capabilities and potential applications.
