Blockchain Technology Committee approved by ISO, Australia-led global blockchain standards are coming soon

Creating international blockchain standards is no small feat. Australia is poised to lead the international discussion as it will serve as secretary of the Blockchain Technical Committee. Australia has proposed the creation of the committee to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which has already approved it. But what exactly does this mean for blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiasts?

Global blockchain standards are coming

Standard Australia will be responsible for leading the establishment of international blockchain standards. Bronwyn Evans, CEO of Standard Australia, mentioned that the organization will be responsible for supporting interoperability between various blockchain systems. Privacy, terminology, and most importantly, security related to blockchain will become the focus of attention.

Evans also said:

“Leading the ISO blockchain committee will put Australia in a perfect position to help inform, shape and influence the future direction of international standards to support the rollout and deployment of blockchain technology. This exciting initiative will put Australia at the centre of global innovation and digital disruption.”

Everyone in the world seems to believe that blockchain will improve the financial industry, but the use cases for this technology have expanded beyond the banking and payment industries. International blockchain standards can help promote the development of different industries. However, establishing these guidelines will require a lot of international cooperation.

Australia is in the driver's seat

Australia wants to be a global leader in blockchain standards development. While they are not the only ones who want to play a major role, someone has to be the first. Currently, a total of 36 countries have agreed to be part of the committee, with the United States, Estonia, Japan and South Korea among the other members. It is positive to see Asian countries joining at this early stage.

These international blockchain standards will bring greater market certainty and confidence. They will also support regulation of financial transactions, asset transfers, and commodity exchanges. A unified set of guidelines can drive innovation in the distributed ledger space. However, these regulations will be difficult to implement on open blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

More details about the international committee will be released in the coming months. Australia has come under the spotlight for imposing a cryptocurrency GST on Bitcoin users. However, this decision helps validate cryptocurrency as a payment tool in Australia.