Blockchain Think Tank Slovenia: Next Steps

Blockchain Think Tank Slovenia — that I will take the liberty of naming BTTS for the sake of this post — just announced today a brief description of its broader mission. The press release was posted on the Slovenian Digital Coalition website and the official document (in Slovene) can be found here.

As this is relevant not only for the Slovenian blockchain community, but the crypto space in general, I will try to sum-up and outline the contents of the press release and document — and of course I will add some personal comments :)

Blockchain Think Tank Slovenia is starting its activities. The individual areas where BTTS sees its mission have already been identified. The general mission is to create an advanced digital society and a reference environment for solutions based on the use of blockchain technology and the introduction of innovative approaches to the combined use of blockchain and other advanced technologies.

Education and Awareness

BTTS will organize regular monthly meetings (“Blockchain meet-up”), and as an organizer or co-organizer, collaborate with accelerators, chambers, universities, event organizers and the state in events dedicated to education, awareness and promotion of blockchain technology.

In my opinon the goal should be to promote a culture of innovation. When the internet happened, Slovenia was not that far behind, but lacked financial input to excell in the field. With Blockchain technology the financing boundaries may be reduced, effectively making it viable for Slovenia to become a world leading hub for innovation. In this regard, I believe that inspiring talks could help individuals and organizations discover their creative and innovative spirit and deal with changes that are both personal and technological.

Slovenian Blockchain

BTTS will build the infrastructure (production and test environment) with the help of stakeholders of the digital coalition and BTTS members, through which companies and government organizations will be able to learn using blockchain solutions. BTTS will establish a Slovenian blockchain that will allow companies and government organizations a free evironment for both testing and production of blockchain solutions.

Not sure how creating a free environment will help, as we already have e.g. Rinkeby testnet and others to test our creations to be later deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. Perhaps I am missing something here. Will take a closer look, ask somebody at the top of the foodchain and get back to you on that. Promise.

Linking Slovene Knowledge

BTTS will act as an open platform for linking Slovenian knowledge and blockchain technology. On the BTTS website, everyone who offers any blockchain services will be able to present themselves. They will be encouraged to have their offices open monthly to answer the basic questions of those who need such answers.

At the same time, BTTS will serve as a link between the Slovenian startup community that develops solutions based on blockchain technology and Slovenian blue chips and other mature companies that want to use blockchain and transfer it to their business models.

If the BTTS will open up a wider interest for mature companies to invest in the space, the Slovenian blockchain startup space could actually flourish with innovation.

Creating a Global Hub for Blockchain in Slovenia

BTTS will play a leading role in promoting Slovenia as a blockchain-friendly country. Both public and private sector activities will be promoted at various events, contributing to the construction of a blockchain community in Slovenia. BTTS will work with the government to promote Slovenia as a blockchain-friendly country. One of the goals is to attract as many blockchain startups as possible to come and work in Slovenia.

Slovenia is a great place to live. Great healthy environment, excellent public school system, safe, lots of outdoor activities within reach, short commuting times, 3 airports within 2h drive radious… I mean, its the ideal place for your Blockchain startup! If anyone wants a tour, feel free to reach out. I’d be happy to show you around :) Seriously though.

Preparation of Regulatory and Other proposals

BTTS will invite legal, IT, business and other experts to collaborate on various blockchain related documents. Proposals, initiatives and ideas will be transmitted transparently to representatives of the public sector. Guidelines for consumers will be issued on investing in crypto currencies. Proposals for self-regulatory standards will be drafted related to generation of blockchain tokens (regarding project founders, transaction structure, etc.).

BTTS will add a significant contribution to proposals for regulatory changes and amendments to relevant by-laws. In this light, representatives of the blockchain community united under BTTS will provide expert support to regulatory representatives and representatives of other public law institutions.

The above is a prerequisite for the previous two points to come true, so this one we have to follow closely. I mean. For the past 6 months researching and working on Blocksquare with our team at Medius, Inc, Viktor Brajak and I have been evaluating what jurisdiction to choose for incorporation. We think its better to wait for some regulators to catch up and choose wisely. As much as Estonia, Switzerland and other countries seem tempting and cool, if Slovenia offers a favourable regulatory environment, I wouldn’t think twice about incorporating Blocksquare, the Ethereum of Real Estate, here on our soil.

Networking with Related NGOs

With the aim of promoting Slovenia as a blockchain-friendly country and goal of international exchange of know-how, BTTS will work with related think tanks and other foreign companies and organizations that are committed to promoting blockchain in any other way.

In order to justify Slovenia as the green reference country in digital Europe, BTTS invites blockchain companies to test their solutions in our environment.

Perhaps regulators could implement a “sand box” environment for testing purposes that might drive innovation in less predictable directions. This could attract companies to test new products directly with consumers in a safe manner. At Blocksquare we could sure use it for our pilot project.

Promotion of industry 4.0 awareness

As industry 4.0 interconnects various technologies, BTTS will also promote and raise awareness about other technologies and business models that blockchain technology relates to.

I sincerely hope the BTTS initiative delivers results. In my mind Slovenia is mature to strive for the position of most blockchain-friendly country in Europe and should go all-in in this direction. However we will need to prove we are capable to move fast in providing regulatory solutions. The pace in crypto space is much faster than in the real world, while the pace in government regulatory bodies is way slower than in the real world.

Actually, a day in crypto is more like a year in the public sector. Will they be able to keep-up? I sure hope so.