The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) is a joint initiative from the European Commission and member states through the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) aimed at creating a blockchain-based digital infrastructure for the public sector across Europe.
EBSI's vision is to build a secure, trusted and resilient infrastructure that enables public services to operate more efficiently, transparently and cost-effectively. EBSI is funded by the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), an EU funding programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations.
The EBSI is a peer-to-peer network of distributed nodes across Europe, supporting applications focused on selected use-cases. Each member of the network, mandated by an EBP Member, hosts EBSI nodes at national level. All the nodes can create and broadcast transactions that will update the ledger. Every node keeps an identical copy of this ledger.
The EBSI will benefit:
- Citizens: Carry out the exchange of Verifiable Credentials across borders to access (public) services with more security, transparency and control over your own data than ever before;
- EU Institutions: Simplify administrative processes, enable regulatory compliance and increase efficiency in cross-border public services;
- National administrations: Simplify administrative processes, increase efficiency and instill trust in citizens.
In 2020, the Early Adopter Programme (EAP) for the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) was launched. It is an incubator programme aimed at testing and implementing cross-border blockchain-based solutions, oriented towards verifiable credentials for public services.
The first cross-border pilot launched in July 2021: it gathered 2 European universities alliances and 11 universities from 11 countries to join their forces to create the so-called “multi-university pilot”, which identified, designed and delivered 6 cross-border scenarios.
