BBVA, Banco Santander join EU blockchain initiative

Spain’s BBVA and Banco Santander are among the first five banks to join the EU International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (IATBA) project. The other FIs have not been disclosed.

According to a BBVA press release, the IATBA will launch in Q1 2019. The main aim is to develop EU blockchain regulation and help usher in EU-wide blockchain applications.

In the press release Carlos Kuchkovsky, Head of Research & Development New Digital Business, BBVA stresses the important role the project could have in terms of establishing blockchain best practice and standards and at avoiding fragmentation on a European level. He also believes that Europe is well positioned – with its current level of data protection and privacy management – to influence global standards.

Kuchkovsky adds that blockchain is not only a technology, but it also engenders new business models, creating a “tokenized economy” and “paving the way to a decentralised economy in the future…At BBVA we fully support this initiative and are ready to get to work.”