The European Commission strongly supports blockchain on policy, legal and regulatory fronts, as well as funding.
Building a pan-European blockchain of public services : The European public sector is playing a pioneering role in blockchain by building its own blockchain infrastructure. Over time, this will include interoperability with private sector platforms. The European Blockchain development company as Partnership brings this vision to life. It is a joint effort of the 27 EU countries, Norway, Liechtenstein and the European Commission. The output is the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), which will go live in 2021.
Promoting legal certainty : The Commission recognizes the importance of legal certainty and a clear regulatory regime in areas related to blockchain-based applications. She is currently developing a legal framework conducive to innovation in the areas of digital assets (tokenization ) and smart contracts ., which protects consumers and provides legal certainty to businesses. The Commission strongly supports a pan-European framework and hopes to avoid legal and regulatory fragmentation. It recently published a proposal to regulate crypto assets, update anti-money laundering rules for crypto assets, and create a pan-European regulatory sandbox for innovative blockchain solutions. This was done with the aim of increasing investment and ensuring consumer and investor protection.
Increase research and innovation funding: The EU is funding blockchain research and innovation through grants and investments. Grants are awarded under the Horizon program. From 2016 to 2019, the Commission awarded some €180 million in grants under Horizon 2020. A significant budget for further grants is foreseen in the Horizon Europe follow-up programme. The Commission is supporting investments in start-ups and blockchain projects through the new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain Investment Fund, which invests in venture capital funds targeting start-ups in the ‘AI and blockchain and early-stage companies.
Promoting Blockchain for Sustainability : The EU recognizes the potential of Blockchain and supports the use of Blockchain development service technology to drive sustainable economic development, fight climate change and support the New Deal green for Europe.
Support for interoperability and standards : The Commission strongly believes in the importance of standards in promoting blockchain technology. It participates in the work of ISO TC 307, ETSI ISG PDL, CEN-CENELEC JTC19, and IEEE and ITU-T regarding blockchain, and seeks to collaborate with all competent bodies at global level, such as INATBA (see below).
Support blockchain skills development: There are initiatives focused on skills development to ensure that the necessary high-level skills are available.
The Digital Europe program provides strategic funding to address these challenges and supports the development of a qualified talent pool of digital experts. With a total budget of €580 million for digital skills over seven years, the Digital Europe Program strengthens cooperation between EU Member States and stakeholders on digital skills and jobs .
As an industry skills alliance funded by the Erasmus+ programme, CHAISE addresses the growing demand for blockchain skills across Europe. The main mission of the CHAISE project is to develop a strategic approach on blockchain skills development for Europe as well as to provide future-proof training solutions, in order to address blockchain skills shortages.
Community Interaction : The Commission interacts with the private sector, academia, and the blockchain community primarily through two bodies:
The International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), a public-private partnership designed to bring together EU countries, the private sector and other stakeholders, such as academia, to promote the blockchain ecosystem in Europe. INATBA promotes the interoperability of blockchain technologies and good governance, and acts as an interlocutor with governments and international bodies.
The European Blockchain Observatory and Forum, which is a pilot project funded by the European Parliament. It aims to pool the expertise needed to identify and track blockchain initiatives and trends globally to create a comprehensive source of publicly available blockchain knowledge that supports the blockchain ecosystem within the EU.
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