Towards A National Blockchain Strategy?

Fabrice Croiseaux, Chairman of Infrachain (Photo © InTech)

Infrachain is Luxembourg’s foremost non-profit organisation working on all things blockchain. Chairman Fabrice Croiseaux tells us more about Luxembourg’s most exciting blockchain projects and the importance of developing a national blockchain strategy.

How does Luxembourg’s stance towards blockchain compare to its neighbours?

Luxembourg is quite open to blockchain projects when it comes to regulations. Also, something that is not as well known is that the government has launched a public sector blockchain, a blockchain dedicated to public sector use-cases such as student loans.

Nevertheless, unlike France, no specific regulatory or fiscal policies have been put in place to make Luxembourg more competitive when it comes to blockchain. I think, especially when it comes to DeFi, there are more opportunities to be explored in Luxembourg. However, it will be difficult to keep our competitive position if we don’t make our regulatory and fiscal policies more competitive.

What is something you wish more people understood about blockchain technology?

A lot of people think that the current situation regarding cryptocurrencies is due to problems inherent in blockchain technology, however, this is not the case. It is more often linked to an underperforming stock market or, in some cases, low-quality algorithms behind the cryptocurrencies. If the algorithm isn’t good, the economics of the project won’t be able to sustain an increase in the price of the asset class–this has nothing to do with blockchain technology itself.

Which local blockchain projects are you currently most excited about?

I think Tokeny is really interesting because of its ability to tokenise assets. Furthermore, I think it is exciting because it uses the public blockchain as infrastructure and has a smart contract-based model that allows it to be fully compliant with the current financial regulations. FundsDLT is another interesting project launched by LuxSE, Natixis, Clearstream and Credit Suisse. Their goal is to review and increase the efficiency of the fund distribution. Lastly, Scorechain is all about regulation and AML. It makes use of the public blockchain to verify whether the address used to receive or send crypto is blacklisted, risky or non-compliant.

“I would like to see more DeFi projects in Luxembourg because I think they will become essential for our future growth.”

Fabrice Croiseaux, Chairman of Infrachain

What are the biggest challenges that Infrachain is trying to tackle in Luxembourg?

One of the biggest challenges today is to show how many real use cases already involve blockchain. These are not just limited to finance but can also be applied to logistics and many other sectors. One of the ways we are trying to highlight these is by providing training to companies but also to individuals.

Which kind of blockchain projects would you like to see more of in Luxembourg?

I would like to see more DeFi projects in Luxembourg because I think they will become essential for our future growth. I also think it has a lot of potential for already established actors such as family offices or private banking. Secondly, Luxembourg is a huge logistics hub in Europe. If the main actors such as CFL, Post and Cargolux get together to put in place a digital platform based on blockchain, they would all benefit greatly from it. Lastly, I think there are still many opportunities that can be explored in the digital identity realm because there is no common platform for it today even though there is an overarching regulation.

What’s stopping these projects from being developed?

In Luxembourg and in Europe there is a lack of investment from VCs and the public sector. Our culture is less risk-based so the money that can be injected into these projects is rather limited. I think it would be beneficial if the ministry of economy developed a national blockchain strategy which could bring some coherence to Luxembourg’s blockchain projects and goals. It would also allow us to think about how to improve investments in this sector and how to attract more companies. Putting this in place would not be so hard and everyone would stand to benefit.


This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Read the full digital version of the magazine on our website, here. You can also choose to receive a hard copy at the office or at home. Subscribe now.

Total
0
Shares
Related Posts
Total
0
Share