European Parliament member: I suggest everyone buy some Bitcoin before commenting

Rage Comment : Europe's attitude towards digital currency has always been wavering, but as time goes by, more and more people begin to realize that this is a new thing that is too similar to many things in the past. Perhaps before traditional supervision, large-scale exploration and research are needed. This week, the European Parliament hopes to make progress in these areas. The proposal hopes that the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, can create a new working group to supervise the development of virtual currencies, or expand the tasks of the existing working group to the blockchain field.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Members of the European Parliament delivered an impassioned blockchain-themed speech to the influential Consumer Protection Committee this week, marking the next stage in the European Parliament’s implementation of blockchain technology.

Antanas Guoga, a member of the European Parliament, spoke on behalf of Lithuania, calling blockchain a “perfect technology”; the Internal Market for Consumer Protection Committee listened to the speech and weighed whether to set up a new virtual currency task force.

Antanas Guoga, Member of the European Parliament

Guoga went on to encourage members to explore Bitcoin, telling the committee:

“I’m sure many of our politicians don’t have Bitcoin yet, but are debating legislation around something we don’t understand. I suggest everyone get some Bitcoin and learn about the system. This will be a big breakthrough and opportunity.”

The committee reportedly passed the proposal with a majority vote in favor.

Promote the creation of working groups

The proposal calls for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to create a new task force to oversee virtual currencies or expand the mandate of an existing task force to cover blockchain.

Ulrike Trebesius

It is reported that the author of the relevant report, Ulrike Trebesius, supports the establishment of international regulatory standards for the technology, and said that in addition to supporting the creation of a working group, the committee also decided to guide the development of other digital ledger technologies in non-financial application areas.

“We have finally decided to take a friendly approach to virtual currencies; Europe needs innovation and we should support European innovators in achieving technological victories in the commercial sector.”

The vote came a day after the European Digital Currency & Blockchain Technology Forum (EDCAB) was founded; a series of roundtables that brings together policymakers and industry leaders in the European Parliament. The non-profit organization spent much of the week in consultation with policymakers before the vote.

The European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs will then vote on whether to support the proposal at its meeting on April 26.