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.