New FinTech Action Plan Puts EU Eyes On Blockchain

The EU is activating plans to promote work with new technologies like blockchain.

The European Commission is making arrangements to form a new FinTech lab sometime in 2018. This is according to the 2018 action plan of FinTech that was released on Thursday, March 8th.

The new initiative will welcome participants from national authorities, and, technology providers in all of Europe, who seek to perform supervisory and regulatory work around new technologies with the inclusion of blockchain.

Mariya Gabriel, the current commissioner of the Society and Digital Economy, said in a statement: “Innovations like blockchain will be game changers within and beyond the financial sector. It is our responsibility to build an enabling framework where innovation can thrive. It’s also our job to protect consumers from the possible risks associated with these new technologies.”

Identified in the report were areas of development that included legalities surrounding initial coin offerings, smart contracts, and some other issues related to jurisdiction. The action plan is a milestone by the European Union in the promotion of work around the technology in a regulated environment.

According to the reports, the EU, earlier this year, had already revised the Payment Services Directive that required that banks within the region should make their communication channels transparent. The directive affected API’s to cryptocurrency accounts because they required account integration for payment purposes.

The opportunities provided by blockchain are limitless, and the EU realizes its potential. The FinTech action plan by the commission revealed that plans were already being made and work had already begun in the Blockchain Observatory Initiative. The initiative was launched in 2017 in a bid to develop a common framework for the use of blockchain within the economic bloc. As time passes, more plans will be activated, and more instances of the use of blockchain by the EU will arise.

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