27 member states of the European Union had come together for developing the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), which has the aim of providing cross-border public services. Liechtenstein and Norway are not part of the EU and yet they also joined the EBP and now Ukraine has become the third non-EU nation to do so.
Ukraine Joins EBP
On Friday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation made the announcement of the country joining the EBP as an observer. Since it wants to integrate its digital economic space with the European Union, Ukraine is planning on expanding this blockchain partnership to some other countries as well. The intention of the country to become a member of the EBP is certainly not a new one.
As a matter of fact, it can be traced back to July last year, when a letter was sent to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. This letter was penned down by the chief executive and founder of Virtual Assets of Ukraine named Konstantin Yarmolenko and parliamentary group Blockchain4Ukraine’s head, Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi.
The letter highlighted Ukraine’s interest in joining the EBSI i.e. the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure and the EBP. Later, the EC’s president had confirmed the possibility of Ukraine joining the EBP as an observer.
Yarmolenko stated that Ukraine wanted to run test-node of the EBSI and also wanted to try out the public services across the border that was based on blockchain technology. He also added that the crypto donations that Ukraine had received in its war with Russia have turned out to be quite helpful. He said that their next step is to ensure blockchain integration with the EU based on the EBSI and EBP initiatives.
Ukraine Wants Full Membership
Once Ukraine has worked as an observer with the EBP on pilot use cases, it wants to get full membership. Apart from that, Yarmolenko also disclosed that Ukraine wants to strike other blockchain partnerships in order to provide cross-border public services to its people. This would include registration of asylum/refugee and identity credentials’ support and verification of educational diplomas and credentials.
Yarmolenko also said that the EBP partnership was also made for strengthening ties with the European Union and it could even be considered a blockchain integration. Zhmerenetskyi said that one of the benefits of the blockchain partnership with the EU would be the recognition of higher education documents of Ukrainian and driver’s licenses of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness had recently talked about crypto asset regulation, including regular cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. The commissioner also said that a proposal would be discussed with the French government through MiCA, as these rules can be a good tool for ensuring financial stability, market integrity and consumer protection. MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto Assets and it has become important because of the current condition of the market. There is a massive crypto downturn and last month two coins also imploded, which had a total valuation of $60 billion.
