EU lawmakers plan to fund blockchain research

Rage Comment : The EU is preparing to set up a working group focused on digital currency to study technology, uses and risks. This proposal has been included in the budget, but it has not yet been finalized. Members of the European Parliament believe that the establishment of such a working group can develop applications for the government, thereby reducing costs, improving efficiency and strengthening regulatory capabilities. The EU has also paid attention to the potential of digital currency and believes that digital currency will become more and more popular in the future.

Translation: Nicole

The European Union is set to go one step further and establish a dedicated working group focused on digital currencies.

Late last month, the EU Parliament passed its latest budget proposal, which included a working group dedicated to studying technology, its uses and risks. An assistant in von Weizsacker’s office told CoinDesk that the working group is included in the passed budget, but is subject to future debate and approval between the parliament and the executive branch of the European Commission.

The assistant also said:

“Nothing is set in stone.”

The working group was first proposed in February by EU Member of Parliament (MEP) Jakob von Weizsacker and, according to its supporters in the EU Parliament, would develop a regulatory framework for the economic bloc.

In a recent note to lawmakers, von Weizsacker argued that the EU Parliament has an opportunity to strengthen knowledge of the technology across institutions, while also providing a way to develop applications specifically for governments.

Jakob von Weizsacker

He wrote:

“The pilot project aims to create a working group of regulatory and technical experts to build technical knowledge, regulatory capacity and develop use cases in the field of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) for governments in particular, as part of the resolution on virtual currencies tabled in the EU Parliament.”

While this could change, the working group could be funded with up to €1 million if the resolution is included in the final budget.