- IOTA Foundation was chosen as one of the seven projects to support the EU blockchain initiative.
- IOTA is well-suited to the task with its scalable, open-source, decentralised and interoperable technology.
The European Union has chosen the IOTA Foundation as one of seven projects to support the early stages of its European blockchain venture. The purpose of the initiative is to improve the efficiency and accountability of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
In a post on its blog, the foundation announced,
The IOTA Foundation has been selected as one of 7 projects from 30+ applications, to participate in the first phase of the EU blockchain pre-commercial procurement process. This aims to design new DLT solutions to improve the scalability, energy efficiency and security of EBSI, a network of blockchain nodes across Europe. If selected for the next phase, IOTA could be one of the technologies that will be developed and tested with core European services.
The IOTA Foundation is the non-profit behind the open-source distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform Tangle. The EBSI established in 2019 by the European Blockchain Partnership, is a network on nodes whose core purpose is to improve and maintain the efficiency of transactions in the EU and improve the mobility of citizens, enterprises and goods in the region while cushioning the environmental impact. All this while adhering to regional regulations.
IOTA seems well-suited to the task with its scalable, open-source, decentralised and interoperable technology. While it is open-source, it can be modified to fit into the European Union’s data-sharing policies. In addition to supporting a huge number of nodes and high throughput, IOTA technology is in line with the European Green Deal owing to its high efficiency. The EBSI nodes will be run by the EU and individuals from the European Blockchain Partnership.
Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation had this to say;
We are very excited about moving forward in the rigorous EBSI procurement process, and we feel great about our chances to play a central role in bringing distributed ledger technology to European administrations. EBSI is an excellent fit, both technologically and ideologically. We do not need to adapt an existing blockchain or to start developing a new solution that fits EBSI’s needs. Our core technology already offers a near-perfect match to the strict requirements and precise specifications for a European ledger infrastructure, and it is ready for widespread adoption with only minimal adjustment.
The Foundation was among an initial 30 blockchain and decentralised ledger technology projects to apply for the opportunity to be part of the initiative in late 2020. With ESBI approval, the project will begin a pilot scheme expected to run for two years and involving a series of elimination phases. For the duration of the pilot, about 6.2 million Euros are expected to be granted to the seven chosen projects.
The pilot scheme includes a year-long phase after which only two projects will survive intense scrutiny and make it to the second round. In the second phase in which the infrastructure and applications developed will be tested. Successfully making it through all elimination phases will attract a service fee of 1.6 Euros and the opportunity to work with the EU on its DLT project.
