Ukraine Makes Headway Towards Membership in the European Blockchain Partnership
Ukraine has been admitted as an observer in the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), a project to define an EU blockchain strategy and deploy blockchain infrastructure for public services. The observer status is a step toward full membership, which Ukrainian politicians and members of the cryptocurrency community have been advocating for.
The drive for the country’s entrance to the EBP was spearheaded by Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, leader of the inter-factional association of Ukrainian MPs Blockchain4Ukraine, and Konstantin Yarmolenko, chairman of the non-governmental organisation “Virtual Assets of Ukraine.”
In March of this year, they submitted letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders requesting the creation of a shared European blockchain infrastructure based on the EBP.
In response to their request, the chairman of the executive body in Brussels recognised Ukraine’s status as an observer. Along with Norway and Liechtenstein, it is now the third non-EU country to join the effort.
“Ukraine’s inclusion in the European Blockchain Partnership will increase collaborative work on the use of blockchain technology in government registries and services,” Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation Alexander Bornyakov was cited as saying by his department.
Bornyakov, who represents Eastern Europe in the EBP, recently attended an online meeting of all members. He also said that the country’s entrance would foster “a very efficient regulatory framework, especially for the virtual assets market.”
According to Zhmerenetskyi, the leader of Blockchain4Ukraine, Ukraine will be in a stronger position to press for acceptance of its higher education certificates and the driver’s licences of millions of Ukrainian refugees in Europe by joining the blockchain alliance.
