The European Commission's blockchain initiative has selected the Iota Foundation as one of seven projects to participate in the preliminary stage of designing an EU-wide distributed ledger technology platform. The initiative seeks to increase the efficiency and accountability of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a network of nodes dedicated to facilitating the efficiency of EU-centric transactions, as well as the expansion of the region's supply chain through the adoption of emerging technologies, all the while reducing European carbon footprint. The Iota Foundation — a non-profit organization supporting the Tangle, an open-source DLT platform — will support EBSI in cross-border …

A large-scale poll across 12 European Union member states revealed that a majority of Europeans would prefer local governments to create and regulate cryptocurrencies. Redfield & Wilton Strategies carried out a survey for Euronews, polling 31,000 respondents from Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Against the backdrop of the new crypto laws proposed by the European Commission (EC), a lion’s share of respondents from all nations supported the creation of a national cryptocurrency. The main reason for an in-house token, however, is attributed to gaining financial independence from the European Union. Out …

Beginning Sept. 1, decentralized search engine Presearch will be listed as a default option on all new and factory-reset devices sold in the United Kingdom and Europe, a move that could erode Google’s dominance in the search engine market. The decision by Google to list Presearch as a default browser option follows a protracted legal battle with the European Commission over accusations that the technology company used Android to solidify its search engine dominance. In 2018, the European Commission’s antitrust regulator fined Google a record 4.24 billion euros for unfairly limiting competition on smartphone operating systems. In 2019, Google said …

According to regional media reports, the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, or FURS, is considering imposing a 10% taxable income bill on cryptocurrency asset activity in the near future. Under the current legislation method, the authority analyzes an individual's digital asset activity on a case-by-case basis by trawling through their buy and sell transactions. This can result in a stagnant and tedious crypto administrative process. The introduction of this progressive initiative aims to digitally streamline the process, focusing solely on the purchase of goods and services, or the conversion of crypto assets into fiat currencies. Within these parameters, …

Today’s consumers are willing to trade their data for personalization but have fast-growing concerns about data privacy. In a survey from a digital security and credential issuance company Entrust, only 21% of the respondents trust established global brands to keep their personal information secure. As data privacy pressure on Big Tech increases, these companies are starting to make significant investments in security solutions. Regulations around the world are evolving rapidly Last year, as more and more people spent time at home due to COVID-19 lockdowns, internet usage went up. And as usage has gone up, so too has consumer awareness …

Paris-based derivatives fund manager Melanion Capital has launched a new, European Union-regulated fund that aims to track the price of Bitcoin (BTC) at a correlation of up to 90%. The fund is the first of its kind to be issued under the EU’s investment fund umbrella UCITS — an acronym for “undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities.” According to the European Commission’s data, UCITS-compliant funds account for roughly 75% of all collective investments by small investors in Europe. UCITS provides a framework for regulation at the European, rather than national, level and places exacting demands on fund managers. …

Beginning on Aug. 2, 2021, German institutional funds will be able to hold up to 20% of their assets in cryptocurrencies, possibly setting the stage for wider mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets by the nation’s pension funds. As Bloomberg reported, the new law alters fixed investment rules governing Spezialfonds, also known as special funds, which are only accessible to institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers. Spezialfonds currently manage about $2.1 trillion, or 1.8 trillion euros, worth of assets. Related: Hedge funds see the crypto market decline as an investment opportunity Tim Kreutzmann, who works …

Analysts have long decried the European Union’s lack of homegrown tech giants, pointing to the gulf between the EU and counterparts like the United States and China. However, the EU now appears to be making moves to up its investments in innovative technologies. The European Investment Fund (EIF), the EU agency responsible for SME financing, has recently backed a new digital assets and blockchain fund. Fabric Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Luxembourg that invests in digital assets, tokenization projects and other blockchain applications, has secured $30 million from the EIF for its 2021 fund. Other high-profile investors include …

The European Commission has submitted a new proposal that would require crypto-asset service providers to collect additional Anti-Money Laundering information from those who utilize cryptocurrency for money transfers. The stated purpose of this proposal is to prevent the further propagation of money laundering activity within the European Union. Under this proposal, service providers conducting transfers must have the name of the originator of the transfer, the account number, where the account exists and where it is used to process the transaction. The originator’s address, official personal document number, customer ID number, or date and place of birth would also be …

The government of France has proposed that the European Securities and Market Authority, or ESMA, should regulate digital currency activity across the European Union. If enacted, this would establish a single authority over the crypto sector across the trading bloc and would create uniform regulations across the union through ESMA, as suggested by the French securities regulator, Autorite des Marches Financiers, or AMF. The AMF’s proposal states: “Likewise, granting ESMA the power of direct supervision of public offers of crypto-assets in the EU (scrutiny of white papers) and of crypto-asset service providers would create obvious economies of scale for all …

Cryptocurrency payment provider Simplex has added SEPA Instant to its list of payment methods, giving European partners the ability to move funds into digital assets with greater ease and flexibility. SEPA stands for Single European Payment Arena, which enables payment harmonization across the European Union. With SEPA Instant, credit transfers are processed and settled within seconds. The fully automated process is connected to the traditional payment system but is much faster than traditional bank wires. For Simplex, SEPA Instant is considered a major milestone in promoting seamless adoption of digital assets. Under the new partnership, European users will have the …

Regulatory constraints facing Binance have forced the popular cryptocurrency exchange to temporarily halt bank transfers denominated in euros, according to an email sent to its customers on Tuesday. Specifically, euro deposits via the Single Europe Payments Area, or SEPA, have been put on hold indefinitely due to circumstances beyond the exchange’s control, Binance said in the email: “Due to events beyond our control, we are temporarily suspending EUR deposits via SEPA Bank Transfers from 8 am UTC on July 7, 2021.” Although Binance didn't specify the reason for temporarily halting SEPA transfers, the decision likely stems from the onslaught of …