Mathieu Michel wants to make Belgium ‘the Switzerland of the blockchain’

Blockchain is a digital register of transactions that is kept decentralized and can be checked by all participants. The best-known applications are crypto coins, such as bitcoin, but the technology can also be used for other things.

These include applications for transparent data exchange, smart contracts, more secure IT infrastructure and decentralized finance (DeFi). The latter is a financial system that eliminates the need for intermediaries such as brokers, stock exchanges or banks. The so-called Web3 – a new, decentralized version of the worldwide web that would give big tech companies less power and give users more control over their privacy – will also run on blockchain.

Michel is now launching Blockchain4Belgium, a platform for industry, academia, civil society and government players to formulate findings and recommendations on the impact and opportunities of blockchain. More than 500 people involved have already registered.

One of the first priorities is recommendations on taxation, which are expected as early as March. Michel wants to turn Belgium into a blockchain hub by encouraging companies with favorable and transparent rules to establish themselves here and create jobs. “Belgium must become the Switzerland of the blockchain,” says Michel. That country developed itself into a global financial hub. According to the State Secretary, our country already has sufficient know-how and talent.

In the longer term, the working groups of Blockchain4Belgium will, among other things, focus on recommendations on education and regulations, but also on concrete blockchain applications that the government can work with itself.