At the Awards Ceremony and a Gala event organized by the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) in Brussels on January 31st, the European Commission has been awarded for advancing international public policy cooperation on blockchain technologies in its role of co-chair of INATBA’s Governmental Advisory Body.
Deputy Director of DG CNECT’s Platforms’s Directorate, Fabrizia Benini accepted the award on behalf of the Governmental Advisory Board members, its chair the Canadian Government, and co-chairs Abu Dhabi Global Market and European Commission.
Accepting the award, Fabrizia Benini highlighted the past achievements of INATBA which has engaged over 170 active members in developing common approaches on issues of high relevance to the global Blockchain industry, such as privacy. She emphasized the vital role of standardisation and interoperability in deploying blockchain solutions internationally. The INATBA Board also bestowed awards to companies in categories such as social innovation, corporate innovation, education and decentralised finance, demonstrating the dedication and contribution of the community to the advancement of blockchain services that can improve the quality of life of our citizens.
In this regard INATBA has a clear role to play in providing a platform for engaging with relevant stakeholders working towards common positions in the blockchain industry on standards being developed in international bodies.
INATBA was established to promote an open, transparent, and inclusive global governance model for blockchain, based on the shared interests of stakeholders from industry, start-ups and SMEs, civil society organisations, governments and international organisations. It is a measure of success that its membership has increased to 170 since 2019.
Fabrizia Benini assured participants of the continued support of the European Commission in strengthening INATBA’s role in the international blockchain ecosystem.
The European Commission is committed to continue supporting innovation, deployment, and uptake of blockchain technology as part of its Digital Decade objectives to deliver a sustainable, inclusive digital transformation of Europe’s economy and society by 2030, in the full respect of common values. We are confident that by leveraging blockchain technology, public services for citizens, students and enterprises will be substantially improved.
European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is one of the potential candidates for a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) bringing together Member States efforts’ in providing new generation of cross-border public services.
Apart from the European Commission, awards have been received by some of the most exciting projects in the blockchain & DLT ecosystem in the fields of Regenerative Finance (ReFi), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Social innovation, Education and Corporate Innovation.
The event also featured a panel discussion involving startups and industry players, as well as MEP Ondrej Kovarik, Pierre Marro (DG CNECT) and Joachim Schwerin (DG GROW) that pointed out the increased maturity of use cases beyond finance and crypto assets, the experience gained by entrepreneurs and innovators in various applications, as well as the challenges to scale those initiatives. The panel noted the necessity to reinforce the dialogue between innovators and regulators for which DG CNECT is soon launching the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox.
Source: European Commission I Digital (https://bit.ly/3I1J5cC)