European Commission to launch blockchain-focused initiative ‘IATBA’ in Q1 2019

Spanish banking giant BBVA has announced that it is one of the five banks invited to join the launch of the 'International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications' (IATBA), a European platform to promote the use of the 'blockchain'.

The launch was announced alongside a conference organized by the EC entitled ‘Uniting EU Industries to lead blockchain technologies’ on November 20. Attended by public and private organizations, the forum aimed to foster innovation and harness the possibilities enabled by the blockchain technology in Europe.

Headquartered in Europe, the IATBA, a publicly promoted initiative, aims to bring together companies interested in exploring the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) to transform digital services at a global level. It is expected to be legally set up as early as first quarter of 2019.

“As the EC itself announced, this association will work to promote interoperability between these technologies, develop sector-specific guidelines and protocols, promote EU standards across the world and provide information for the implementation of Europe’s blockchain strategy,” BBVA said.

Referring to a report from Expansion, CoinTelegraph reported that Banco Santander another bank that has been invited to join the IATBA. The names of other members have not been disclosed yet.

Earlier in February, the EC launched the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum to boost blockchain activities in the region. Later in April, it announced that 22 member countries have signed a declaration on the establishment of a European Blockchain Partnership (EBP).

According to BBVA, the EBP, which has now been signed by a total of 27 member countries, aims to develop a trusted, secure and resilient European Blockchain Services Infrastructure meeting the highest standards in terms of privacy, cybersecurity, interoperability and energy efficiency, and fully compliant with EU law.