The state of the blockchain industry in Europe

The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum (EUBOF) has just published a detailed updated report on current state of the blockchain ecosystem in Europe.

The first version of the report was published in 2020. The updated study adds new countries and reports on new developments related to blockchain and cryptocurrency across Europe over the past 2 years.

Updates on the development of blockchain technology in Europe

A new detailed report on the state of the blockchain industry in various countries in Europe has just been published by EUBOF, the European Blockchain Observatory. EUBOF aims to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem in the EU, thereby helping to consolidate Europe’s position as a global leader in this innovative new technology.

The Institute For the Future (IFF) at the University of Nicosia and Netcompany-Intrasoft led the scientific team that produced this interesting and highly detailed report, which, in addition to the EUBOF partners, included key contributors and interviewees such as Vice-President of the European Parliament, MEP Eva Kaili.

The report analyzes the progress both from a regulatory and normative perspective and from the perspective of adoption and technology applied to blockchain in Europe in recent months. The report looks at all 27 countries that are part of the EUplus Great Britain, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway.

For each of these countries, a fact sheet is provided that analyzes all the data available on the level of regulatory and technological development for each country, which then culminates in an assessment of the level of regulatory and ecosystem maturity for all of them as a whole. According to the report, Cyprus, France, Malta, Estonia, Switzerland and the UK are the European leaders, combining mature business ecosystems with clear regulatory frameworks.

The report’s findings

The long report reads:

“A total of six countries were found to be improving either their ecosystem maturity levels (Belgium, Slovakia, Finland, France) or their regulatory environments (Bulgaria, UK), with the UK and France advancing to the top tier of Europe’s leading blockchain nations, to join Cyprus, Estonia, Malta and Switzerland.”

Italy will be in an absolutely intermediate position among the most developed countries both in terms of regulation and technological adoption.

The report continues as follows:

“Italy has a number of state-backed pilot initiatives aimed at testing blockchain applications in government, as well as a large number of private pilots, mostly by financial institutions, while soccer fan tokens are on the rise and significantly contributing to blockchain adoption in the country. The country was one of the first in the world to recognize the legal validity and enforceability of smart contracts in 2019.”

Professor George GiaglisThe IFF’s managing director responsible for the report said:

“We are proud to have worked with the European Commission and our partners at the EU Blockchain Observatory to publish an updated version of our flagship report on the state of the European blockchain ecosystem. We conducted dozens of expert interviews in all European countries and collected data on regulatory initiatives, the status of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, educational initiatives and communities of practice in each country. The result, in our opinion, represents the most thorough and up-to-date analysis of the state of the European blockchain ecosystem to date.”

From a regulatory perspective, the report cites the major progress made by the European Parliament in March with the final approval of MiCAthe first regulation for the cryptocurrency world in the EU, which is not expected to take full effect until the end of 2023. In addition to the MiCA proposal, the report explains how a proposal was also made regarding the Digital Finance package in general, which also includes a proposal for a pilot scheme on DLT Market Infrastructures, a proposal for Digital Operational Resilience, and a proposal to clarify or change certain EU rules relating to financial services.

The report concludes:

“The Commission is well aware of the potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) and associated innovations to streamline the financial sector and provide efficient, robust and transparent services.”