Germany has adopted a comprehensive blockchain strategy that outlines a policy framework for innovations based on blockchain technology. It identifies what the government’s objectives and principles are in connection with blockchain and proposes specific measures. The strategy draws extensively on feedback from a broad-based public consultation process that took place in spring 2019.
The strategy’s main objective is to take advantage of the opportunities that blockchain technology offers and to harness blockchain’s potential for advancing digital transformation. For example, the government affirms that it wants Germany’s thriving blockchain ecosystem to keep growing, and that it aims to help make Germany an attractive hub for the development of blockchain applications in business and public administration. At the same time, the strategy emphasises that such applications must not impinge upon state sovereignty or undermine consumer rights. For example, the German government will work at the European and international level to ensure that new digital means of payment do not become alternatives to official currencies.
