Great Britain's Regulator Announces International Blockchain Project

International financial regulators have formed the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) to develop technologies of blockchain and distributed ledger (DLT).

The representatives of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of Great Britain reported that they began cooperation with regulators of 11 countries around the world, and formed the GFIN. The project involves financial organizations from the US, Canada, Australia, the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.

Document screenshot on FCA website

The key functions of GFIN include communication of regulatory bodies for financial innovation as well as creation of a "global sandbox" for the implementation of DLT for the international solutions. Thus, developing firms will be able to try their hands at the international market, while reducing costs and time for the introduction of their products.

After the FCA declared its intentions, it got 50 reviews, and the most of them favored the development of transborder payments via DLT. Regulators of Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi have already begun to work on a payment system built on DLT.

The description of the "global sandbox" project published by FCA will be open for the public feedback till October 14, 2018.

In July, the FCA defined several potentially successful crypto startups and allowed 11 blockchain and DLT companies to test their products in a sandbox environment. At the same time, the matter of implementing blockchain in financial services is still unclear for a number of countries.