New EU data rules won’t make smart contacts illegal, the European Commission has said, brushing off industry concerns about killing off blockchain innovation., an EU bill now being deliberated, imposes unworkable requirements that smart contracts should withstand manipulation, safely reset, and control access – but officials say there’s nothing to worry about for Web3 entrepreneurs.
Though acknowledging the law goes wider than just covering the Internet of Things – meaning connected devices such as smart fridges – “the new provision is intended to cover software, which is used to automatize the execution of contracts ,” the spokesperson said, adding that requirements in the controversial parts of the law “are quite high-level and they should not be problematic for the vendors of smart contracts software.
“The drafting as it stands is extremely wide, and it will therefore almost inevitably create uncertainty about what the intended scope is,” CoinDesk was told by Chris Donovan, general counsel at the NEAR Foundation, an organization which supports the“We've seen what regulatory uncertainty can do to our industry in other jurisdictions,” Donovan added, referring to the U.S.