In the context of the Horizontal Taskforce on Fintech and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), the European Parliament has mandated the European Commission to implement a pilot project in order to build up technical expertise and regulatory capacity. The European Commission intends to launch a call for tender for a service contract to set up an EU Blockchain Observatory, according to the release.
The EU Blockchain Observatory will consist of both an Observatory and a Forum to gather opinions and to voice concerns around Blockchain and DLT, aiming to become an EU expertise hub to discuss forward-looking topics on blockchain and develop use cases of interest at EU level. The Observatory’s mission will be to inform and assist the European Commission in understanding what role – if any – European public authorities should play to encourage the development and up-take of these technologies and to formulate related policy recommendations.
To that end, the Observatory is expected to
- provide an up to date overview of relevant initiatives relying on Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technologies around the world and
- follow-up closely the developments of this technology and the related challenges and opportunities for European industry, citizens and governments.
- develop expertise on transversal topics such as infrastructure, governance and validation mechanisms, smart contracts, regulatory and legal challenges, interoperability and standards,
- build and animate a platform for the European blockchain community
- explore possible use cases with a value added at EU level.
The EC’s estimated budget for the Observatory project is 500,000€ over a 2 year period, with the call for tender will be published during Q2 2017 in TED eTendering.