The Romanian government’s NFT trading platform lands on MultiversX

Romania’s National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics, or ICI, plans to launch “ICI Decentralized Services”, an NFT trading platform on MultiversX.

The platform will officially launch on April 26 and a handful of NFT collections – of Romanian sports teams, athletes and libraries – will be ready for purchase at launch.

In fact, ICI itself will launch an NFT collection titled “Past Present Future,” which it says will showcase scientific breakthroughs and technological advances over the past half century.

The Romanian NFT trading platform will mark one of the very first government initiatives in the country to join the digital asset ecosystem.

“NFT technology has gained significant popularity in recent years due to its ability to create unique and scarce digital assets that can be used in a variety of use cases, making them valuable and useful to be contacted by institutions,” said an ICI – spokesperson for Blockworks. “For Romania, the development of projects based on NFT technology can benefit the country’s economy by attracting new investments and promoting innovation in the blockchain and decentralized technology industry.”

Beniamin Mincu, co-founder and CEO of MultiversX, told Blockworks that digital real estate is still a very clear value proposition that exists for blockchains.

“The ability for any form of value (i.e. certificates of authenticity, land registries, property titles) to become digital, liquid, instantly and globally tradable will superpower the world economy, drastically reduce red tape and guarantee ownership of assets to anyone, anywhere,” Mincu said.

It is exciting to see European governments looking to innovation for economic growth projects, he added.

To ensure that NFT trading is seamlessly integrated in Romania and safe for its consumers, ICI will ensure that the regulations are in line with EU standards.

“Legal considerations related to NFT trading in Romania cover a number of aspects, including taxation, anti-money laundering (AML), consumer protection and the evolving regulatory landscape in the EU,” an ICI spokesperson said.

“The initiative to integrate NFT trading into the existing landscape will require harmonization of local laws with EU regulations and resolution of any legal ambiguities,” they added. “This involves continuous amendment of existing legislation, clarification of legal ambiguities and cooperation with EU institutions to ensure a consistent approach to NFT regulation.”

The institutional NFT trading platform is not the only product ICI plans to launch.

In a press release reviewed by Blockworks, ICI notes that it hopes to equip the community with tools that enable trading and management of digital assets in the near future. With plans to look into tokenizing institutional ecosystems such as education, intellectual property and real estate, just to name a few.

“For the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest, this is a remarkable step towards innovation by developing and building a framework for a sustainable and secure economy, benefiting the interaction between citizens, businesses and institutional units in decentralized digital ecosystems ,” ICI said in a statement.

ICI did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

Updated 20 April 2023 at 11:53 a.m. ET: Added comment from an ICI spokesperson.

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