European Blockchain Review 2020
Think-tank dGen has published a report about blockchain development in Europe with focus on aspects as EU-regulations, financial systems and start-ups. According to the report, the main “blockchain-players” in Europe are Germany, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom, Malta and The Netherlands.
The think-tank itself is expressing hopes for a future where Europe is taking advantage of regulatory and economic differences, where cooperation between different actors is taking place and where clear but not restricting legislation adopted for sharing across borders becomes more accessible, even outside of the EU.
According to the report, while many European governments have expressed interest and started initiatives regarding blockchain and cryptocurrencies, it is often still the startups and organisations who drive the most exciting innovations. The report is highlighting that Europe is emerging as a strong blockchain ecosystem on the global playing field. For example, between 2017 and 2019, London had the second-largest amount of blockchain funding globally, pointing to the importance of the European blockchain sector.
Another exciting feature is when it comes to central-banking policies and cryptocurrency development. The report states that the central-banks as the European Central Bank’s (ECB) have many concerns over digital currencies, and to issue them directly would require a lot of work to bring together current laws and expectations for transparency with the anonymity that many cryptocurrencies, and cash, offer.
Much of the report is therefore based on texts about policies and regulations. Regulations are seen as one of the most pressing issues for the EU and Europe at large. For example, Facebook’s announcement of Libra has been a disconcerting ‘wakeup’ call to many European lawmakers while Switzerland has decided not to block its registration.
A larger part of the report is about the thematical presentation of the mentioned “blockchain-players” as Germany and other European countries like Romania and Lithuania when it comes to blockchain, start-ups, regulations, ambitions, future etc. One can read about that the second-highest amount of blockchain startups in the EU, around 8%, are based in Germany while the majority of Germany’s blockchain community and companies are located in Berlin.
For more information, you can download the report via https://www.dgen.org/blockchain-in-europe-2020-review