The European Parliament is set to host a four day conference on virtual currencies and blockchains as it seeks to educate MEPs about the fast-growing world of distributed ledgers.
Taking part next week, the non-commercial exhibition will bring together representatives from the World Bank, IMF, OECD, Bank for International Settlements, United Nations and Europol, along with academics, central banks, established companies and startups.
While the hype surrounding bitcoin has died down, enthusiasm for its underlying distributed ledger technology continues to grow, with financial services firms around the world looking to harness it for a host of applications, posing questions for lawmakers.
To help MEPs get to grips with the issues, next week's conference will see roundtable discussions and presentations from several of the attendees, including the IMF, Nasdaq and Blockchain.info.
Syed Kamall MEP, who is hosting the event, says: "I am pleased to be hosting the exhibition on blockchain and virtual currencies in the European Parliament. Legislators internationally are now looking at this area and how to protect the consumer while stimulating innovation."
Kamall has co-organised the event in concert with the European Digital Currency & Blockchain Technology Forum - a new Brussels based public policy platform for digital currencies and distributed ledger technologies.
Siân Jones, Edcab founder, comments: "For a strong and comprehensive policy and regulatory framework, collaboration based on indepth understanding of the technology and open debate is vital. The creation of Edcab signals industry’s commitment to work with policymakers over the long term to achieve positive outcomes for the sector and the European citizens it serves."