Share this article
EU Now Accepting Applications for Its Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox
The sandbox, which will run for the next three years, is open to "companies from all industry sectors" and public entities, with priority given to more mature projects.
Updated Feb 15, 2023, 5:59 p.m. Published Feb 15, 2023, 11:18 a.m.
The European Union's executive arm on Tuesday launched a regulatory sandbox for innovative applications of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) that underline crypto.
The European Commission's blockchain regulatory sandbox, or testing environment, aims to "facilitate the cross-border dialogue with and between regulators and supervisors on the one hand, and companies or public authorities on the other hand," an official announcement said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
The initiative is part of a EU funding program to bring businesses, citizens and public administrations to the digital age. The bloc is also exploring how DLT-based solutions could help cut out intermediaries in securities trading, with a pilot due to begin in March.
The DLT sandbox will run until 2026 and will annually support 20 projects involving blockchain applications for public and private sector use "to verify information and make services trustworthy."
The first call for applications is open until April 14, with a panel of independent academic experts selecting projects for the first cohort. The sandbox is open to "companies from all industry sectors" as well as public entities.
"Priority will be given to more mature use cases where legal and regulatory questions of broader relevance arise," the announcement said.
Read more: EU Rules for Distributed Ledger Financial Trading Finalized Ahead of March Pilot
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
What to know:
- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
Top Stories
