INATBA plays crucial role as convener of global blockchain ecosystem
As someone who has been engaged in the global blockchain ecosystem for more than five years, I believe in the vast and far-reaching potential of blockchain, and I work tirelessly with organizations that are committed to help the technology reach mainstream adoption and adaptation. To do so, however, the ecosystem needs to address points of friction and barriers that have slowed the market from reaching its true potential.
One of the biggest challenges we face today is finding efficient models that help facilitate engagement between policy makers, regulators and industry.
That’s where the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) is playing a crucial global leadership role.
In the year since we launched, INATBA, based in Brussels, has convened motivated participants to engage towards mutually beneficial outcomes. We have identified the topics that matter to both public bodies and private market participants, then convened audiences around these topics. We are maintaining focus on the attainment of clear objectives that will create value for all stakeholders.
More specifically, INATBA has created 14 working groups ranging from Healthcare to Supply Chain, Interoperability and Finance, around which we have invited our members to convene and identify the most important real-world topics for the adoption of blockchain.
We have achieved good progress, thanks to the support, expertise and commitment of our members. In March, for example, INATBA’s staff collaborated with more than 40 members to proudly deliver two key reports to the European Commission. These reports included a 45-page consultation response to the European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) for the European Blockchain Services Initiative (EBSI) and a 114-page crypto asset consultation response to DG FISMA.
The EBSI’s public consultation aimed to gather market intelligence from stakeholders on novel blockchain-based solutions for the EBSI and assess the gap between the procurement need and ongoing market developments in the blockchain field.
The DG FISMA public consultation gathered market intelligence on crypto assets with a view to proposing a pan-European policy update on this novel asset class; intending to harmonize the EU Member States’ framework on crypto assets, which blossomed alongside blockchain. INATBA members also participated in a bilateral discussion with the DG FISMA team leading this process, due to the disruption caused by COVID19, this bilateral was held over conference call.
Both public consultations were partly influenced by the 2017 crypto asset boom, and the ensuing market bust. These motivations were further prompted by individual Member State policy initiatives that aimed to appropriate a new and ever-increasing wave of investment and interest dedicated to DLT, and crypto-assets specifically. Together, these public consultations constitute one of the most important policy initiatives within the Blockchain and DLT industry globally.
We hope the evidence provided by our members will contribute towards the creation of pan-European policies that will shape how crypto assets are treated across the European Union.
INATBA is also playing a global leadership role in response to the global COVID pandemic. In partnership with the European Commission and University College London – Centre for Blockchain Technologies, we recently launched the INATBA COVID Task Force, a global initiative that convenes public and private entities committed to quickly activate blockchain solutions that address challenges caused by the pandemic.
The INATBA COVID Task Force is convening key players in the blockchain ecosystem to identify deployable technology solutions that address governmental, social and commercial challenges caused by COVID. We are analyzing, sorting, packaging and presenting solutions to governments and organizations to deliver real value quickly.
The INATBA Task Force is building an industry-wide intelligence engine that identifies and catalogues all blockchain-related solutions that can assist with global challenges caused by the pandemic. The database will establish the state of readiness of each solution, identify any additional work required to make the solutions ready for market or fit to solve the identified issues.
The process will include the ability to curate collaborations between technology providers to deliver the best solutions.
The COVID pandemic has caused profound stress to the global systems and services people use every day, at a governmental, social and commercial level. Leveraging its position of technology, commercial and political neutrality, INATBA is uniquely equipped to lead this vital team of global blockchain leaders to address that stress and support those services.
As part of our core mission to foster public and private engagement, INATBA also recently joined the World Economic Forum’s COVID Action Platform. The WEF platform brings together the World Health Organization, corporate CEOs and top experts from leading global organisations to coordinate multi-stakeholder contributions into the fight to combat the global spread of coronavirus.
Marc Taverner in conversation with James Bowater. Marc is executive director of INATBA. Prior to joining INATBA, he served as Global Ambassador for the Bitfury Group, a leading full-service blockchain technology firm based in Amsterdam. There he brought a unique set of experiences gained from a career in startups and industry leading players. He founded a successful modem distribution company, Nuvo, and has held leadership roles with many top technology companies, including Genesys Conferencing, the world’s largest provider of unified communications services and Promethean, a market leader in educational technology solutions.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marctaverner/
Twitter: @blocktav
Twitter: @INATBA_org