The European Commission (EC), the economic bloc's legislative body, is launching a study aimed to assess the feasibility and potential of an EU-wide blockchain infrastructure.

The study, which is set to cost €250,000, will focus on whether blockchain can assist the EC's objective of creating the conditions for a reliable, transparent and EU law compliant "data and transactional environment."

In a call for tenders, the commission said:

"This study will assess, in the first place, if, when and how blockchain technologies may help public authorities to deliver European services and implement policies in an optimised way."

While not providing much detail, the document said "a range of options" will be examined, including existing initiatives at national or local levels. It will further will look at how to scale such an infrastructure at the EU level, and which services might run on such a system.

The EC has called for tenders to conduct the study in a process that will remain open till Jan. 19, 2018.

European Commission image via Shutterstock

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