The world of blockchain use and crypto currency regulatory developments continues at a fast pace, in the energy and financial worlds, with many developments since our last post (see here).

Energy initiatives
On the energy side of things, Endessa and Gas Natural Fenosa announced here that they have completed an energy trade on EnerChain. This will likely be followed by many more. Use is spreading to many places. For example the Chilean National Energy Commission is planning to use blockchain technology to authenticate renewable energy data as reported here on the PV magazine web site.  The blockchain has the potential to simplify regulatory reporting in many spheres, provided that appropriate standardisation takes place, and also that the ledger is accessible to the right parties. This post on the Blockchain Council’s web site takes a brief look at the possibilities.

Smart contracts
The legal side of smart contracts is also a key ingredient to the success of many blockchain initiatives. It is reported here on the Legal Week web site that Linklaters  joined the Accord project(see here) , which aims to support efforts by legal and technology professionals to bring together thinking on practical legal issues that must be addressed to make smart contracts feasible.

Regulation of Crypto and ICOs
Concerns about crypto currencies and ICOs from regulators continue. This article on the Metro web site, reports on comments made by Markus Ferber MEP that a Europe wide framework for crypto regulation is necessary in the near future. At the same time, the European Commission has hosted a “crypto currency round-table” to better understand the issues, as reported here  on the Coin Telegraph web site. a  In the meantime, France’s  AMF has ruled here that a cash settled derivative with a crypto underlying is a derivative under MiFID II (and therefore also reportable under EMIR). A UK Treasury committee has also launched an inquiry into digital currencies (see here). BaFin has issued a statement (see here in German) which outlines the tests to determine whether a token arising from an ICO is a financial instrument under MiFID. The matter is reported here on EthNews.

Many of these topics will be discussed today at the ETRC Summit, together with other regulatory issues that could impact the energy and commodities sectors.