Yeah might get away with just version control. If my understanding of blockchains is correct, which it almost certainly isn't, then the core features you're aft

Yeah might get away with just version control. If my understanding of blockchains is correct, which it almost certainly isn't, then the core features you're after would exist in the overlap between a distributed VCS and a block chain, i.e. a series of commits, where I can verify that my sequence is the same as yours, and that both of ours are the same as the governments.