The EU just launched a Blockchain association with the backing of Joe Lubin, Ripple and IOTA

By Oliver Smith on Friday 5 April 2019

Savings and Investment

Crypto industry and policy makers are starting to put their heads together.

The EU just launched a Blockchain association with the backing of Joe Lubin, Ripple and IOTA
Image source: ConsenSys/Joseph Lubin

Over 100 giants from across the world of crypto, including R3, ConsenSys, and Ledger, came together this week to launch the European Union’s International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA).

The group’s goal is to promote the regulatory and business reforms needed in Brussels to boost adoption of distributed ledger technologies in Europe.

“This initiative is global but is being supported by our good friends at the European Commission,” said Ethereum co-founder and founder of ConsenSys, Joseph Lubin.

“It is designed to be a platform for blockchain ecosystem organizations big and small to work together to bring blockchain and distributed ledger technologies mainstream.”

While it’s mainly crypto companies, the group’s membership also includes policy makers, regulators, and larger corporates including Telefonica, SAP, Accenture and Barclays.

The full membership of the INATBA can be found here.

“It’s an honor and really a privilege for us to be one of the founding members of the [INATBA],” said Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple.

“This really is a pivotal time for the distributed ledger technology industry. It’s critical that as an industry we come together and engage with regulators and governments globally. The work we are seeing with the European Commission is pivotal and can be leading in this effort.”

While the official launch of the INATBA came on Wednesday, the group is the result of months of meetings, forums and roundtables at the EU as policy makers work out their strategy for the technology.

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