The Philippines has taken a major step toward digitising public finance oversight, becoming one of the first governments in Asia to begin notarising official documents on the blockchain. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has launched a transparency initiative using the Polygon blockchain to validate documents such as Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and Notices of Cash Allocation (NCAs). The rollout, however, coincided with a temporary outage on Polygon’s Heimdall v2 mainnet, raising early questions about reliability even as the platform’s decentralised infrastructure continued producing blocks uninterrupted. Blockchain to support document validation in public finance Launched this week, the Philippine government’s blockchain validation system uses Polygon to inscribe hashes — alphanumeric strings generated from public budget documents — onto the blockchain. These hashes serve as immutable representations of the original documents, offering proof that they have not been tampered with or altered in any way. Users can verify SAROs or NCAs through a search interface or by scanning QR codes to check against blockchain-stored data in real time. According to a Thursday report by local crypto news outlet BitPinas, the system is built on the idea of transparency through immutability. The documents are generated by the DBM, while their representations are logged on-chain. Though the implementation details have not been fully disclosed, BitPinas reported that the system likely uses a hash-based model. By matching a document’s hash to the version stored on-chain, users can confirm its authenticity and origin. The system is intended to safeguard against fraud and promote accountability in public fund management. Partnership with Bayanichain powers budget transparency tool The initiative is being powered by Bayanichain, a local blockchain firm that specialises in Web3 applications. The platform enables public access to the blockchain ledger containing budget document hashes, effectively creating a tamper-proof validation service. According to BitPinas, the collaboration between DBM and Bayanichain aims to improve transparency and accountability in budget allocations using decentralised technology and automation. Undersecretary Maria Francesca Montes Del Rosario of the DBM announced the system’s launch in a Facebook post on Wednesday. At the official launch event, she said blockchain would help prevent document forgery and enhance the integrity of official records in the age of deepfakes and AI manipulation. The programme forms part of a broader initiative to modernise governance using satellite imaging, AI, and data-driven tools. Polygon suffered technical failure during launch While the government’s blockchain service went live on Wednesday, the Polygon network simultaneously suffered a temporary outage. The Heimdall v2 mainnet, which handles consensus for the Polygon proof-of-stake chain, experienced a bug that disrupted the network’s operation. Polygon’s team later described it as a “consensus bug” that affected front-end infrastructure and data reflection. Although the Bor layer continued producing blocks independently, several services were disrupted, including blockchain explorers, which failed to reflect ongoing network activity. The issue was resolved within three and a half hours, limiting broader impact. However, the timing cast a spotlight on the risks associated with relying on decentralised networks for government-grade infrastructure, even as the initiative proceeded uninterrupted with backend stability intact. The post Philippines to notarize government documents on Polygon blockchain despite recent outage appeared first on Invezz
