European Blockchain Sandbox announces the selected projects for the first cohort

Alongside Bird & Bird and OXYGY, the European Commission is delighted to announce the first cohort of the European Blockchain Sandbox:

1. ACCUDIRE
2. Almaviva
3. Anotherblock
4. Blockchain Italia
5. Chunk Works
6. COINFIRM
7. Commissariat a l'énergie atomique
8. Compellio (Uni Systems)
9. deltaDAO
10. DNV
11. EBSI Verifiable Credentials Use Case
12. Equilibrium
13. Eviden (Atos)
14. Fraunhofer (Open Logistics Foundation, ALS Holding)
15. Globallogic (Nuggets)
16. INO MTÜ
17. Lokovice / unBlock (Murcia City Counsel, LleidaNetworks Serveis Telematics, Bankerex Financial, ES SOLO Holdings)
18. Stichting 2Tokens (Rabobank, ABN AMRO Bank, Catena Investment, Enercoin, Catena Power)
19. Traent
20. Twinu

The selection was an eventful, thorough, and inspiring process. From an intensive applications period, which saw great interest from across the EU/EEA, to a rigorous selection process and matching of use cases with relevant regulators/authorities, the project team worked hard to ensure the Sandbox was populated with innovative use cases with a broad range of relevant regulatory topics, able to generate best practices to benefit the broader Blockchain community.

Having the opportunity to witness such wide-ranging innovations in the Blockchain space across the EU/EEA has been extremely encouraging, and we would like to thank all those who took the time to apply for the first cohort of the European Blockchain Sandbox.

One use case of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure has been approved by the EBP for participation in the lot for public entities, and 19 additional use cases were selected in accordance with a carefully curated selection process. The selected use cases span all EU/EEA regions and represent a wide range of industry sectors and regulatory topics.

The matching process for this first group of 20 use cases is nearing completion and the confidential regulatory dialogues are about to begin. At the conclusion of these dialogues, a best practices report will be published.

Congratulations to all the selected use cases and welcome to the Sandbox. Please be advised that eligible use cases who have not been selected for the 2023 cohort, or use cases who have not had the opportunity to apply, are welcome to apply for the second and third cohort, in early 2024 and early 2025 respectively.

Please note that the full list of use-case descriptions can be found in the annex below for your information.

Background

The European Regulatory Sandbox for Blockchain was launched in February 2023. Its goal is to provide a controlled environment for companies to test their products and services, while engaging with relevant regulators. It will run from 2023-2026, supporting 20 projects each year. The Sandbox is supported by the Digital Europe Programme and will help Europe achieve its goals for the Digital Decade.

The pan-European sandbox is set up and operated by a consortium of legal experts from Bird & Bird and its consulting arm OXYGY, supported by blockchain experts Warren Brandeis and by the web-designers of Spindox, which has been procured through an open call for tenders in 2022. The selection and the award process are overseen by a panel of independent academics consisting of Professor Roman Beck (IT-University, Copenhagen), Professor Soulla Louca (University of Nicosia, Cyprus) and Professor Walter Blocher (Universities of Kassel and Germany).