UK startup iov42 has been chosen over corporate giants to help design and develop the next generation of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).
The firm, which builds blockchain-inspired identification tools, is one of seven tenderers selected, beating out competition from EY, Vodafone and Deloitte.
The flagship project from the European Commission hopes to leverage blockchain technology to improve standards of cross-border services for public administrations across the EU.
Founded in 2016, iov42 builds simple building blocks to enable users to create easy-to-use applications that can achieve high levels of regulatory compliance and security, while also allowing networks to scale efficiently and work with each other.
It does this by using industry-leading ledger technology to digitally codify processes. Unlike conventional blockchain models, iov42 creates a chain of transactional proofs for every identity and asset combination that is made.
This helps to improve the security and traceability of transactions for governments, public bodies and enterprises.
In a first for the continent, the European Blockchain Partnership is upgrading existing infrastructure to create blockchain-based services for public administrations – benefiting citizens, society and the economy. This will be done through the delivery of key use cases, which will be digital product passports for the circular economy and digital IP rights.
When completed, the EBSI will allow public administrations to protect against fraud, help businesses to alleviate administrative costs, and enable citizens to take full control of their personal data, with iov42’s innovative technology being used in full to drive forward these ambitions.
Upon completion, EBSI aspires to be facilitating up to 15 billion transactions per minute, a world first for blockchain technology.
“We are delighted to have been selected by the European Commission to work on EBSI, which is made even more special for us as the only UK-based start-up to have been chosen,” said iov42 CEO Dominic von Trotha Taylor.
“It is hugely validating to have an organisation such as the Commission endorsing our platform’s capabilities – capabilities (and approach) which we feel represents a refreshing departure from traditional DLT and which was designed with governments, enterprises and regulation front and centre.”