The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental body with 36 member countries, has formed “a high-level expert group” which includes executives from the crypto industry. They will provide advice in helping develop international blockchain policy principles.
Also read: Regulatory Roundup: EU-Wide Crypto Regulations, New Rules in Europe, US, Asia
‘High-Level Expert Group’ Formed
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced this week that it has formed “a high-level expert group,” also known as the Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board (BEPAB). The organization described that the group’s primary goal is “to provide advice on its work on blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies; this will include the development of high-level blockchain policy principles.”
The intergovernmental organization currently has 36 member countries, with the European Commission participating in its work. Members engage with OECD experts and delegations from other countries; they are part of the council that oversees the organization’s work.
Yoichi Iida is the deputy director-general for G7/G20 relationship of the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The incoming chairman of the OECD’s Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP) explained:
The BEPAB’s geographic diversity is critical to the development of international blockchain policy principles.
According to the announcement, this high-level expert group consists of 45 governments and representatives from the European Commission, the private sector, industry bodies, and civil society groups. The current list of members shows that there are 93 experts on the board in total.
Among members of the expert group from the crypto and blockchain sector are executives from the Libra Association, Facebook’s Calibra, Aidtech, Bitfury, BITT, Blockchangers, Block.one, Consensys, Everledger, Etoro, Infrachain, Iobuilders, Maker Foundation, Outlier Ventures, R3, Ripple, and SALT.
Other members include officials from the European Parliament and government agencies of various countries, including the U.S., Egypt, Japan, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, and the U.K. Representatives from a number of central banks, blockchain associations, academic institutions, and industry bodies are also members.
OECD’s Blockchain Work
The OECD has acted as a strategic advisor to the G20 and has been working closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on national growth strategies and other policies. The organization has been developing blockchain policies over the past six years. Its work “includes research and analysis on financial consumer protection and financial education issues raised by ‘crypto-assets,’ the potential for the technology to support due diligence requirements in global supply chains, improving corporate governance mechanisms such as proxy voting, and the use of blockchain as a digital enabler of sustainable infrastructure,” its website describes.
The formation of the expert group follows the establishment of the OECD Blockchain Policy Centre in 2018. The center provides resources for policymakers and supports blockchain work by the organization’s Committee on Financial Markets (CMF) and Committee on Digital Economy Policy. Among other initiatives, the OECD also hosts Global Blockchain Policy Forums. The third one will take place in Paris from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1. Last year’s forum attracted 1,600 participants and 200 speakers.
Aerdt Houben, Director of Financial Markets at De Nederlandsche Bank and Chair of the CMF, commented:
We are engaging with a diverse group of experts and innovators in developing principles to guide governments and industry in pursuit of viable blockchain innovation and adoption.
The OECD has published a number of crypto and blockchain-related reports such as one released on Friday entitled “The Tokenisation of Assets and Potential Implications for Financial Markets.”
What do you think of the OECD forming an expert group with representatives from crypto and blockchain companies? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the OECD.
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