EBA Working Groups

The WG is dedicated as an interdisciplinary forum to support the adoption of “Proof of Stake blockchain consensus protocols” in all their variations. This includes in particular comprehensive educational work and lobbying efforts directed towards political decision-makers within the European Union and other European states. The working group will also seek to improve the state of the industry as a whole through self-regulation, standards-setting and the development of best practices within the industry.

The WG is dedicated to the advancement of digital solutions for identity which conform to the principles of privacy by design. EUSSI advocates for increased adoption for self-sovereign identity technology across all areas of society and undertakes activities to strengthen policy, provide education and enable adoption for all stakeholders. The WG is platform agnostic and supports diverse initiatives including but not limited to Hyperledger Aries, Hyperledger Indy, Ethereum-based SSI and more. This working group aims to serve as an independent platform for businesses and organisations to share experiences and find best-practice approaches for SSI solutions.

Securitization, i.e. the issuing of traditional financial instruments on a DLT is only one aspect of tokenization. In fact, this emerging scientific field has the potential to bring innovation to many areas from economics, business, law and taxes, to computer science. The Tokenization Working Group of the European Blockchain Association (EUTOK) aims to connect stakeholders from the wide range of scientific disciplines impacted by tokenization. Our goal is to develop frameworks, best practices, and educational content. Outcomes of the Tokenization Working Group will be shared with EBA members and communicated to the market.

Blockchain is expected to have a cross-cutting impact on a wide variety of financial services beyond payments, with applications ranging from payments and settlement to smart contracts, compliance and more. At the same time, possible risks must be addressed to ensure system resilience and to capture the benefits of distributed ledger technologies in the financial sector. The EBA Working Group Finance (WGFin) gathers finance industry experts and policymakers, shares learnings, initiates matchmaking for cooperation partners and contributes to collaborative projects within the frame of EBA. Fields of interest:

• Payments
• Financial Accounting
• Custody
• Initial Coin Offerings
• Fiat gateways
• Legal, regulatory, compliance aspects
• Innovative Blockchain-based financial products
• Transformative Blockchain-based insurance services

Blockchain technology presents both, opportunities and challenges, for corporate governance and compliance, enabling new business models and forms of organisations. It may allow tracking and reporting of financial information in real-time while maintaining a clearer chain of reliable and secure information of transaction histories. This has important impacts as it potentially allows for lower costs, greater liquidity, more accurate record-keeping, and transparency of ownership. Therefore, blockchain technology could increase the efficiency of existing practices, as well as provide new enforcement tools for market regulators. Moreover, the governance of blockchain itself is a new frontier, forcing us to reconsider what we know as good governance. This Working Group will explore the possibilities of blockchain in the field of governance and will analyse what the EU-countries can learn from each other through existing pilot projects. Fields of Interest:

• Public Administration
• Political Elections
• Liquid Democracy
• Privacy in the Public
• (Semi)-Decentralized Organisations

Blockchain-based smart contracts allow the tokenisation of illiquid assets. One of the best known illiquid assets is real estate. Real estate is not only illiquid, but it is also one of the most sought after investment classes due to its immobile nature and therefore (mostly) predictable performance. This Working Group will explore the possibilities of blockchain in the field of tokenisation of real estate, on the residential side, as well as on the commercial property side. It will analyse EU-wide regulations and laws related to the real estate business. Fields of Interest:

• Real Estate Investing
• Real Estate Development
• Real Estate Management

Blockchain technology could potentially address a few of the biggest problems in the healthcare sector. Saving the medical data of each patient on a blockchain with respect to privacy regulations would not only enable patients to have full control over their data but could also promote the conduction of large-scale quantitative research studies. In addition, the use of blockchain technology could also lead to better traceability of drugs and could prevent pharmaceutical fraud. The biggest obstacles are presumed to be the lack of adoption due to technical challenges, cultural prejudices, and the current legal framework. This Working Group will gather industry experts, policymakers and researchers to discuss possibilities and risks of implementing blockchain technology into the healthcare sector under consideration of the country-specific frameworks. Fields of Interest:

• Medical Records
• Clinical Research
• Incentives for Patients
• Drug Traceability
• Pharmaceutical Fraud
• Technology Acceptance

This Working Group creates a strategic discussion on the potential benefits and risks of blockchain for our economies and societies, and what governments should do to realise this potential. The conversation will set the scene for the forum in demonstrating the readiness of policymakers to leverage this technology to improve the design, implementation, and impact of public policy initiatives. By reframing such concepts as trust, transparency, identity and centralised authority, distributed ledger technology has the potential to fundamentally impact how markets are structured, with implications for labour markets, development, monetary policy and more. This expert dialogue will focus on the potential implications of blockchain for the global economic landscape, highlighting possible opportunities and risks ahead. Fields of Interest:

• Public Policy Initiatives
• Public Discourse around Blockchain