The deployment of European blockchain services infrastructure, EBSI, was launched in the first quarter of 2020.
Thanks to this technology, which enables users to store and transmit data in a secure, decentralised manner, the European Commission aims to deliver better services to Europe’s citizens.
Belgium, along with about 20 other European Union member States, has pledged to contribute actively to this ambitious project. The country’s first node was commissioned on 12 February while a second is to follow in the next few weeks.
Blockchain technology records online activity sustainably and in a verifiable manner, without being overseen by any control body. Simply put, it is a database common to all that shows the history of exchanges between its users and is kept and updated simultaneously at all the nodes making up the network.
It resembles a collaborative accounts ledger of which everyone has a copy that (s)he can update, thus updating the document for all its users.
Blockchain technology cannot be corrupted. Each user can check the chain’s validity at any time, without having to go through an intermediary, and, once a transaction has been recorded there, it cannot be erased.
In Belgium, Belnet – which provides the country’s public services with high-speed internet – and Smals, which develops IT applications and services, are collaborating on the development of the Belgian part of the European blockchain, the two companies said on Monday in a press release.
This infrastructure will comprise a network of interconnected nodes and particular attention will be paid to cyber-safety, respecting privacy and sustainability, they added.
At the national level, each member State will be responsible for the functioning of the nodes on its territory.
The apps the European Commission plans to develop are designed to standardise interactions with and between national and European administrations and the traceability of administrative processes across national borders.
The Brussels Times
