• The European Commission has adopted its new strategy on Web4 and virtual worlds, which aims to ensure a secure and inclusive digital environment for EU citizens.
• The strategy is based on four main pillars: empowering human resources, supporting businesses, developing public services, and shaping global standards.
• Despite the fanfare of Web3 and the trends that accompanied it, few credit and financial institutions have placed their confidence in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
European Commission’s Strategy on Web4
The European Commission has recently adopted a new strategy on Web4 and virtual worlds with the aim of ensuring “an open, secure, trustworthy, fair and inclusive digital environment” for European Union citizens. The strategy is based on four main pillars: empowering human resources; supporting businesses; further development of public services; and shaping global standards for “Web 4.0” — a newly coined term that attempts to anticipate the next technological wave.
Impact of Web3
Despite the fanfare of Web3 and the trends that accompanied it, few credit and financial institutions have firmly placed their confidence in Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum. This lack of substantial progress makes it difficult to assert that Web3 left anything noteworthy behind — aside from a sharp but short-lived spike in Lamborghini sales.
EU’s Position on Bitcoin
The European Union’s general stance on Bitcoin has arguably detracted from its image as a forward-thinking region advancing technology solutions. As such, there is an opportunity for the EU to either retract or modify previously taken positions on matters such as proof-of-work mining in order to reinvigorate confidence in its technological ambition.
Opportunity for EU
The European Union can take an active role in what ultimately makes the world move by advancing its digital euro project while also supporting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum — thereby hedging its position to minimize risks while maximizing potential opportunities. To do this effectively requires unifying views within the European Central Bank regarding digital currencies while also adopting a neutral monetary stance alongside a technology-neutral one.
Conclusion
The European Commission’s strategy provides an opportunity for the EU to be at the forefront of upcoming technologies like Web4 and virtual worlds while also taking advantage of more established ones such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. For this reason, it is important for all parties involved with this initiative to adopt a unified view when making decisions so as not to detract from Europe’s image as an innovative technology leader — both now and into the future.