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The government of Germany is planning to introduce a blockchain strategy in the country by the middle of 2019. Cabinet of Germany, the chief executive body of the government announced these plans and pointed out that it was working dedicatedly to meet the growth and development of Fintech.
The Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, as well as the country’s Ministry of Finance, have been assigned the duty of setting up a strategy to introduce blockchain. Moreover, it informed that the other ministries would be involved in the process in due course of time.
Apart from this, the Cabinet also plans to carry out a consultation process before preparing the strategy. Earlier reports had suggested that the German government has set up a consultation process in order to explore and research the potentials of the blockchain and find various ways to take maximum advantage of the revolutionary technology.
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Blockchain technology has several advantages for businesses across industries and processes. Its ability to enhance various sectors has led to the technology being accepted and adopted at a global level. The commercial and technological potential of blockchain has triggered a race among nations to become the powerhouse for the technology.
The European Union at large has been showing keen interests in the blockchain. The move by the German government is no exception and was more or less, expected. The country has been a global leader in engineering and technology for a very long time, and capitalizing on blockchain will further enhance its dominance in the industry.
Companies and other industry partners, who are potential stakeholders in a blockchain deployment process, have been invited to meet and develop a blockchain strategy for the government of Germany. The country will be spending its resources and efforts around important areas of blockchain development, which have the potential for creating commercial and practical applications. The industries where these efforts will be concentrated includes pharmaceuticals, automobile manufacturing, and engineering.
Earlier this year, Boerse Stuttgart Group, the second largest stock exchange in Germany, launched a cryptocurrency trading app named Bison. The application facilitates the trading service for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereuem, and other virtual currencies, without charging any fees on the transactions. Felix Hufeld, the president of the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BAFIN), called blockchain technology as “revolutionary”. Hufeld went on to say that distributed ledger technology applications derived from the technology have the potential to change the financial sector completely.
Germany has been supportive of the blockchain platform, ever since it was first introduced. The national capital and the country’s largest city, Berlin has become the European hub for blockchain technology in the past few years. The city serves as the center for the development of several blockchain initiatives. Berlin currently houses over 170 blockchain start-ups. It also hosts important international blockchain and cryptocurrency events such as, the ‘Longhash Crypto Festival’ which took place in October last year.
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Apart from Germany, several other European nations have shown active interests in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasized the importance of cryptocurrencies and has decided to introduce his country’s own digital coin by June-July this year.
