Blocknet has been invited to a very selective European Union blockchain roundtable event that will bring together senior representatives of the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament to assess current EU policy, operational challenges, opportunities and the future of blockchain.

Blocknet is excited and honored to receive this invitation as it recognizes Blocknet as leaders in blockchain, interoperability, and the future of the blockchain ecosystem. The high-level roundtable will consist of 40 participants representing the European Commission, European Parliament, European Banks, Members States, Regulators, Financial Institutions, Industry Leaders and Blockchain Solution Providers.

Taking place on the 30th October in Brussels and organised by The International Centre for Parliamentary Studies, the meeting will allow Blockchain Industry Leaders to exchange experience and expertise in technical and regulatory fields for the benefit of the public and private sectors. Because the Blocknet Protocol is perceived to be an influential and groundbreaking technology, Blocknet is perfectly positioned to address the decentralized and collaborative nature of blockchain and its applications. Blocknet has been solving the issues surrounding the interoperability of blockchains for over four years. Recently, a first in blockchain interoperability was achieved when a blockchain transaction was successfully sent without the blockchain installed via the Blocknet’s XRouter technology.

Mariya Gabriel, E.U. Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society stated:

“In the future, all public services will use blockchain technology. Blockchain is a great opportunity for Europe and Member States to rethink their information systems, to promote user trust and the protection of personal data, to help create new business opportunities and to establish new areas of leadership, benefiting citizens, public services and companies.”

The meeting will begin with short presentations from the chairperson, European Commission and European Parliament followed by an industry viewpoint. The majority of the day will be afforded to open dialogue via discussion points within the agenda that will focus on the impact of blockchain on various industries, the business case for Blockchain, recommendations for policy makers, exploring future applications, overcoming IT infrastructure challenges, and more.

Blocknet Co-Founder Arlyn Culwick and Blocknet Strategic Advisor Alexander Koch will be presenting at the roundtable on the topic of overcoming IT infrastructure challenges and addressing the question of whether current IT infrastructure can support a large-scale move to Blockchain. Also attending will be Pēteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit for Digital Innovation and Blockchain in the Digital Single Market Directorate in DG CONNECT and Co-Chair of the European Commission FinTech Task Force alongside with Daniel Dalton MEP, member of the European Internet Forum and ECR Coordinator for the Internal Market Committee. Official representatives from over 10 different European Union member states and industry leaders will address the challenges and opportunities that Blockchain will bring to Europe.

Blockchain technologies are seen as one of the most important breakthroughs in the storage and distribution of information in economic transactions in the world today. Blockchain has applications in identity management, voting and elections, agreements and contracts and various other uses. Although the use of Blockchain is continuing to grow rapidly, concerns have been raised about evolving vulnerabilities, cyber threats, lack of regulation and inadequate research about other known weaknesses. This has resulted in certain organisations, industries and even governments banning or threatening to ban innovations that have emerged out of Blockchain. Despite the pros and cons, recent reports suggest that the EU and its member states are looking to embrace this new technology in the coming years. In April 2018, 22 countries came together to join the European Blockchain partnership, which is widely seen as a vehicle to exchange experiences and expertise to prepare for the launch of EU-wide Blockchain applications. The Vice President of the EU went on say that Blockchain has moved out of laboratories and is now ‘mainstream’. The mix of positive and negative reviews have led to a lack of clarity on the potential benefits of Blockchain and how to prepare for contingencies. With that in mind, this roundtable will assess current EU policy, operational challenges and opportunities and the future of Blockchain technologies.

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