When it comes to crypto and blockchain technology, the European Parliament has always been a bit skeptical – despite the fact a number of nations within the EU are already regulating it. Going against the negative trend, Eva Kaili – a Greek delegate to the European Parliament – was speaking highly of the technology and how it could play a vital role within politics. She hinted that blockchain technology and smart contracts could be used to reduce overhead and human error in certain processes, making the EU more efficient.
Regulations Are Needed
Kaili touched on a number of sectors that already are benefiting from blockchain technology and highlighted a few that could use it. She noted that supply chain management has benefitted from the new technology significantly, as well as cross-border payments. However, she made it very clear that financial services could also use it to reduce the costs that are placed onto the customer – for example when someone places a trade on a stock exchange or trading platform. These costs are excessively high and are due to outdated technology and greedy firms charging a huge premium for their service. Using blockchain technology these fees and costs can be greatly reduced, ending an era of antiquated systems ruling the world.
Has Kali Bought Into a Fictitious Story?
While it’s great to have a pro-blockchain advocate in the European Parliament, there is a good chance she took a fictional story to be true. Leslie Lamport created a fictional Greek civilization to help explain distributed ledger technology back in 1989 – yes, that’s how old distributed ledger technology actually is. Lamport created a fable about the part-time parliament of Paxos – the reason the Paxos protocol is called Paxos – whereby the parliament members only turned up to a handful of sessions due to other commitments – such as parties and lunches. In order to keep everyone on the same page, when a quorum was achieved and a new motion passed, scholars noted down the law changes in everyone’s ledger – even those who didn’t attend – to ensure that everyone had the latest set of rules.
Hopefully this fictional story isn’t something the European Parliament is planning to introduce, as it could spell disaster. Europeans already have a low opinion of European Parliament members, as they very rarely have a full house. This system could destroy the public’s trust in Europe and spell disaster for the European blockchain movement.
Gibraltar and Malta Pushing Blockchain Forwards
While the European Parliament is still twiddling its thumbs and thinking about regulating blockchain technology, Gibraltar and Malta have been hard at work achieving results. Gibraltar led the way back in January by implementing distributed ledger technology and Malta followed suit in November. With nations inside Europe starting to embrace blockchain tech, the wider organization will soon need to make a decision on the technology.
Hopefully, Kaili has rubbed off on the European Parliament and it soon creates European law that regulates the technology, creating a blockchain continent. If Europe manages to accept blockchain technology into its laws then we could see a huge wave of technology adoption and progress in the industry – keep up the great work Kaili!
