The European Union, the world’s largest trading bloc, has announced that on the 18th of June, 6 pm CEST, it will hold an Ask Me Anything session about blockchain.

The high-level event will be organized by the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, an initiative of one of the EU’s lawmaking bodies, the European Commission (EC), and is expected to last for 90 min. The EU representatives promise to give in-depth explanations of how blockchain works and talk to various panelists. The agency also promises to share insights gained during the life of the Observatory and Forum through various public-facing activities.

The event’s hosts will first answer the basic questions like what are blockchain technologies and what are they used for? They will then ask more sophisticated questions and talk about the future. The public inquiries which can be made on Twitter using #AMAblockchain @EUBlockchain. will be answered LIVE on YouTube.

The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum was launched in February by the EC, ConsenSys, University of Southampton, the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University, University College London, and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. The agency “aims to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem within the EU, and so help cement Europe’s position as a global leader in this transformative new technology.”

On May 22nd, it organized its first workshop on Blockchain Innovation in Europe in Vienna. The panelists, among others, included Ludovic Courcelas, a representative of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, Manuel Machado from Worldline, Hitesh Tewari from Trinity College Dubin, and Jordan Lazaro Gustave from ETHLend.

The fact that the EC, arguably the most important institution in the EU and its proto-government, has been recently paying extra attention to blockchain technologies is promising, as the bloc includes the leading world economies, like Germany and France. Already in April, the EC announced that it will invest $400 000 into a blockchain-related project with Andrus Ansip, vice president of the EC, calling DLT one of “the areas where Europe is best positioned to play a leading role.”

Besides, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank which oversees the eurozone market, hosted a similar session asking its tweeter followers whether Bitcoin can offer a viable alternative to traditional currencies.

Other world leaders, like Xi Jinping, called blockchain a breakthrough, while the Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that “we need blockchain.”

 

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