“We consider the European Blockchain ecosystem extremely lively,” states Tom Kettels, Project Lead of Infrachain. Indeed, different stakeholders are involved in the promising evolution of the Blockchain in Europe. Interview.  

 

Can you describe Infrachain in a few words? 

Infrachain characterizes itself as a privately driven, non-profit for any organization – mainly European – interested in Blockchain. It was created on the initiative of “Digital Luxembourg.” Infrachain contributes to the decentralized data economy by promoting the take-up of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) through operational projects and information sharing. In addition, our corporate community works on operational blockchain projects and operates nodes in different Blockchains, including the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). Currently, we are also running projects related to digital IDs and the adoption of Blockchain in the public sector. For instance, we are developing the EBSILUX project with the Ministry of Digitalization, LIST, and SnT. Infrachain allows registration of diplomas on EBSI to increase student mobility and fight against fraud. 

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“The Luxembourg Stock Exchange has admitted the first security token registered on a public DLT.” 

 

How would you define the European Blockchain ecosystem? 

We consider the European Blockchain ecosystem extremely lively. For example, EBSI will host cross-border services facilitating citizens’ and companies’ lives. As such, Infrachain partly focuses now on public sector-led initiatives like EBSI and EBSILUX. Moreover, the Ministry of Digitalization and SIGI launched the Public Sector Blockchain in Luxemburg. On top of that, the EU and national governments are also sending a positive signal by actively developing the legal framework for Blockchain. Indeed, the EU legislators will likely adopt the digital finance package in the next months. This decision will provide legal certainty related to digital assets and the use of DLTs in the finance sector.  This will boost the competitiveness of the European Blockchain ecosystem. 

 

What trends do you identify in the use of this technology? 

Decentralized identifiers rank among the hottest topics. Nowadays, one person may carry several decentralized identifiers used in various contexts like financial services, social media, and gaming. Thus, users regain control over their personal data as they can decide which data to share and with whom. These behaviors complexify the tracking of individual users across platforms. Discussions around central bank digital currencies are ongoing. Moreover, Luxembourg’s so-called Blockchain laws provide a legal basis for security tokens and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has admitted the first security token registered on a public DLT. Finally, widespread tokenization also constitutes a strong trend, be it in real estate or in the metaverse which offers almost endless possibilities for tokenization.