In a push to boost up blockchain adoption in the region, the European Union on Wednesday has launched the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Adoption (INATBA).
This international association will aim to bring together industries, startups, and SMEs; policymakers, international organization, regulatory bodies, civil society, and standard-setting bodies. Its main objective will be to support blockchain getting mainstreamed and scaled-up across multiple sectors.
The launching ceremony was held at European Commission in Brussels and was attended by over 100 members from different sectors who all signed the charter. The association has tapped members from both spectra of industry, traditional tech giants and the blockchain startups.
Few notable members from the established tech giants who joined the organisation are Accenture, IBM, and SWIFT. Other major European banks like Barclays and BBVA also joined the association. Blockchain startups who all joined the group are Ripple, R3, Bitfury, ConsenSys, and IOTA.
The initial goal of the association will be to bridge the gap between public and private industries along with regulatory guidance and legal predictability by ensuring transparency.
Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, spoke at the launching ceremony:
“In today’s economy, there is less and less time to build trust in the way it happened in the past. To fight cancer, to balance renewable energy, to trace the authenticity of goods, actors must be able to trust one another without meeting face-to-face. And how can we achieve this? Of course, with the help of blockchain.”
Discussions were going on for a long time on the formation of a blockchain association in Europe. In January, the European Banking Authority (EBS) has also proposed to introduce friendly laws for the emerging blockchain sector, to increase adoptability.
