Bank of Lithuania Launches Blockchain Startup Sandbox, Furthering the Country’s Position as Europe’s Blockchain Leader

Lithuania has been working hard to position themselves as the gateway to blockchain in Europe.

CEO of Invest Lithuania, Mantas Katinas, declared:

Lithuania is capitalising on its stable jurisdiction and early commitment to innovation in finance and technology. Our country has everything going for it to become Europe’s blockchain leader.

The country recently announced they are opening the first international blockchain technology centre in Europe. Blockchain Centre Vilnius will be a state-of-the-art coworking and shared office space for blockchain startups, connecting key stakeholders in Asia, Australia, and Europe.

And now Lithuania’s central bank just announced it is launching a regulatory and technological sandbox platform service called LBChain. This new initiative will allow Lithuanian and international companies to carry out blockchain technology research. The Bank of Lithuania will provide LBChain participants with a technical platform and consultations on applicable regulations.

Marius Jurgilas, a board member of the Bank of Lithuania, announced:

Blockchain technology has a tremendous adaptation potential for innovations conducive to consumers in both the financial and public sectors. Giving room to regulated development of this technology would provide our country with particularly favourable opportunities for investment and attraction of talents as well as acceleration of advanced innovations.

The LBChain platform, funded in part by the European Union, is scheduled to be launched by 2019. The Bank of Lithuania stated that the platform’s facilities will only be available to innovative blockchain services and solutions companies that meet a specific set of criteria and standards.

The Baltic states — Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia — have been far ahead of the curve when it comes to adoption of blockchain technology. Boasting the highest internet speeds in Europe as well as very low barrier requirements to open businesses, the Baltics are a bit of a crypto-paradise. Estonia is even on the brink of launching their own crypto token called the “estcoin.”

With the addition of this news, Lithuania has helped further position itself as one of the main leaders of blockchain in Europe. With more and more high-tech companies flocking to the little Baltic state, expect to see a lot more ground-breaking blockchain technologies coming out of this small but progressive country.