EU Recommends: Interoperability Standards Are Needed For Blockchain Development

The European Union recently published a report where couple of recommendations were made on how to improve the development of the blockchain technology including scalability and interoperability standards. For that reason, we take a closer look of the report in our blockchain news below.

The report was published on March 6^th by the European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum dubbed ‘’Scalability, Interoperability and Sustainability of Blockchains.’’ The report initially prepared by blockchain tech company ConsenSys on behalf of the EU blockchain department. The report gives us a broad insight into the current and potential future of the blockchain technology in Europe including the input of multiple sources and stakeholders.

According to the authors, standards for digital identities and interoperability among blockchains is recommended so that ‘’we can expect that over time it will become easier and easier for disparate blockchains to work together and to expect that this will be of benefit for the whole ecosystem.’’ The report also continues to point out the much-needed support for basic research and implementation of related projects:

 “Currently the EU is active in supporting blockchain research in a number of ways, from the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum […] to the allocation of up to EUR 340 million [$382 million] to support blockchain projects through 2020 under the Horizon 2020 programme. While these are laudable, the EU should not rest on its laurels. Both the U.S. and China have expressed strong support for blockchain research, with the former even going so far as to include it as part of its USD 700 billion defence budget.”

Further, the report urges policy makers and giant industry players to cooperate and improve the development of blockchain technology but also its governance. It also goes on to say that the European Union has a wait-and-see approach in order to provide projects with some time to learn and experiment before the standards are implemented.

The authors of the report suggest that the governments around the world could interact with blockchain technology as identity providers so they can be ready to expect new models and possibilities. The report makes clear that the tension between General Data Protection Regulation and the legal status of crypto assets and smart contracts should be quickly resolved.