European Parliament: Regulators should give blockchain transactions legal status (download the full report)

The European Parliament’s internal research office has published a new report on the application of blockchain technology (download the full text in Coin Library).

Intended as educational material for members of the EU legislature, the report analyses blockchain’s applications in areas such as digital currencies, patent protection, e-voting and smart contracts.

This is not the first time the European Parliament has explored blockchain technology. Last October, a think tank sponsored by the European Parliament studied and analyzed the application of blockchain in the secure storage of data to ensure the transparency of elections and published a paper.

In addition to the above applications, this report also includes research in other fields. These blockchain applications are enough to completely subvert the entire society.

The authors write:

Although blockchain is not omnipotent, and even if it cannot reform every aspect of our lives, it can still have a disruptive impact in many areas. It is necessary to prepare for the challenges and opportunities brought by this technology.

The report also provides several options for EU lawmakers to deal with blockchain technology. Last year, the European Commission launched a blockchain working group. The agency also plans to increase its research efforts on blockchain in the near future.

The report encourages further exploration of blockchain technology and argues that regulators should give blockchain transactions legal status, something lawmakers in other countries have slowly begun to do.

Although the technology will only work in certain areas, the report's authors believe that EU citizens will benefit from it.

While the most idealistic and revolutionary blockchain development applications may be just a beautiful vision, once blockchain is successfully deployed, data redistribution and transparency will be improved.