Luxembourg adds legal protection for blockchain transactions

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Blockchain technology just got a major vote of confidence from another European country. Luxembourg has passed Bill 7363 into law, allowing financial services to use blockchain tools with confidence.

The announcement came in an official announcement from the Chambre des Députés on February 14. The new law gives transactions conducted on the blockchain the same legal protections of those made by other means. It also makes securities trading over blockchain more efficient by removing some of the intermediaries involved with the practice.

According to the Luxembourg Times, the law passed with overwhelming support. Only two members of the left-wing party déi Lénk opposed the bill, with the rest voting in favor.

Finance minister Pierre Gramegna sent the bill to the Luxembourg parliament. He told the Luxembourg Times last year, “The goal is to make sure that, if you do transactions using blockchain, you have legal certainty and the same legal strength as if you had done the same transaction without using blockchain, in a traditional manner.”

This move makes Luxembourg an increasingly friendly country to blockchain and cryptocurrency technology. In October, they were seen as lagging behind their neighbors, when Belgium and the Netherlands were plugging in crypto ATMs, and Luxembourg was undecided on the matter.

This decision will also come to welcome news to companies like Revolut. That fintech firm has already set its sights on Lithuania, France and Poland, but made clear that they eventually wanted to get into the Luxembourg market as well. Now that they know their e-money transactions will have the same legal protections as fiat, it becomes an expansion they can do with confidence.

This is a small but important step towards global enterprise adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. One of the common fears of the financial industry has been a lack of legal protection for cryptocurrency, and that has potentially scared timid companies away. As more governments do the sensible thing and provide these protections, wide-spread adoption and real business applications are the natural next steps.