European Blockchain Institute to Be Set Up in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state govt announced plans to open the European Blockchain Institute for blockchain technology studies.

The Blockchain Institute is being established to further explore blockchain innovation and Andreas Pinkwart, the NRW economics minister, disclosed the proposed project’s venue It is planned to be established inside Dortmund’s Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics.

The media release claims blockchain supporters expressed reservations about the quantity of electricity utilized for mining bitcoin (BTC).

Pinkwart discussed these issues and commended Blockchain’s advantages, saying:

“This technology can be safe, decentralized, affordable and, when used properly, not too energy-intensive.”

Setting up this Blockchain Institute is pursuing a move in the right track for blockchain implementation in Europe, which lags behind the US in blockchain advances and “has to catch up,” which is a objective that NRW aims to assist in attaining.

They’re several steps behind the U.S. when looking at similar blockchain implementation and progress. NRW intends to lead the objective of catching up to the US. Ripple’s Regulatory Relations Director, Ryan Zagone, mentioned at Consensus 2019 about the need for the US to take the lead in adopting blockchain and crypto facilities:

“There is a broad discussion in Washington around 5G being dominated by foreign firms and the U.S. being reliant on foreign technology and foreign expertise. With blockchain and crypto, I think there’s recognition now that these will be part of our future infrastructure… It’s important both for national security and from an economic perspective, that the U.S. is a leader in that.”