The IOTA Foundation, the non-profit supporting the research and development of new distributed ledger technologies (DLT), including the IOTA Tangle, announced today it been selected to participate in the pre-commercial procurement process for the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a network of blockchain nodes across the European Union (EU).
Established in 2019 by the European Blockchain Partnership, the EBSI aims to develop a distributed ledger network across the European community to support cross-border services between governments, businesses, and individuals. Its goals are to enhance cross-border mobility, reduce waste of resources, enforce compliance with EU regulations, and encourage the growth of tech hubs and projects. Thanks to EBSI, verified information will flow quickly and reliably Europe-wide.
The EBSI network’s nodes will be run on both by the European Commission and by individual member states. Current and planned use cases include the digital management of educational credentials, the establishment of trusted digital audit trails in notarization, SME financing, data sharing among authorities, and European digital identity. After initial implementation in the EU, the technology will also have the potential to extend beyond the 27 member states.
IOTA is well-positioned to enable EBSI’s vision of secure ledger-based transactions for an EU digital single market. IOTA’s technology fits EBSI’s goals of being scalable, open, decentralized, and interoperable. Permissionless by nature, yet IOTA can grant permission to some resources and control data distribution to ensure EU data-sharing compliance. It also supports high throughput and a large number of nodes.
In addition, IOTA’s feeless nature makes micropayments possible and opens up the network to a broad audience. Anyone can afford to use it, whereas the cost of transactions on other blockchains makes notarizing small information exchanges, such as the cost of stamping a single document, prohibitive. IOTA is also energy-efficient and complements the EU’s aim of making Europe carbon-neutral by 2050.
“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.”
– Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder & Chairman of the IOTA Foundation
