Lawmakers in Luxembourg have just passed a bill 7363 into law, facilitating the use of Blockchain technology in financial services, according to an official announcement published by the country’s August house on February 14.
This new piece of legislation aims to provide those participating in financial markets with transparency and legal certainty regarding the circulation of securities with blockchain technology. The new piece of legislation is also designed to see to it that the transfer of securities is much more efficient through the reduction of the number of intermediaries.
According to local news outlet Luxembourg Time, the new bill gives transactions executed using the blockchain, the same legal status and protection as those executed using traditional means. The bill got overwhelming support from Luxembourg lawmakers with only two lawmakers reportedly objecting to it.
Luxembourg has made a name for herself for being very progressively proactive when it comes to Blockchain technology. November last year saw the University of Luxembourg partner with VNX exchange- a trading platform based in the country- inorder to improve the security of digital assets. The partnership between VNX exchange and the University of Luxembourg will also see the University assist VNX in developing higher levels of network security for digital assets.
March last year saw the country’s top financial regulator the CSSF; issue a stern warning against investing in cryptos and ICOs. The regulator noted with concern that these currencies were not being backed by any central bank, while also pointing out the crazy volatility with the currencies. The financial body also pointed out that deals based on crypto-currencies were not entirely transparent and their business models impossible to comprehend.
Despite that damning assessment of crypto’s only 4 percent of the country’s population does not own crypto-currency according to a report by research company Ipsos. This represents the lowest rate of people owning crypto in a country, the report further points out.
It turned out that the decentralized nature of cryptos really appealed to the people of Luxembourg, since they mostly did not take advice from the nation’s top financial watchdog.
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