The European Central Bank to investigate blockchain technologies

The European Central Bank says it is open to new technologies such as blockchain or distributed ledger technologies, and intends to analyse their relevance for different banking services, such as payments, securities settlement and collateral. This appears in a consultation report published by the institution with the aim to collect public input on the ‘Eurosystem’s vision for the future of Europe’s financial market infrastructure’. According to the ECB, the planned investigation into blockchain technologies is to contribute to identifying opportunities and challenges related to the use of such technologies.