Alastria blockchain consortium springs up in Spain
“Blockchain has the potential to become the biggest breakthrough in history in the way we share any digital element, whether it’s a document, a service, a show ticket or money.”
A variety of Spanish banking, energy and telecommunications companies have established Alastria, the “world’s first regulated national network based on blockchain”.
The non-profit consortium will develop distributed ledger technology (DLT), which it believes is “set to become the new data exchange ecosystem”.
As reported in May, the group created Red Lyra, the “first multisector technology platform in the world based on blockchain”.
Lyra comprises fintech and non-fintech companies, professionals, and experts in blockchain. Its founding members include Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) and consulting firm Grant Thornton. In fact, also in May, Grant Thornton and Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank created the “first blockchain banking consortium” in Spain.
Back to Alastria, and like every other consortium, it has been created to “accelerate the creation of digital ecosystems by providing a common collaborative platform” – i.e. the Alastria network.
Alex Puig, Alastria’s CEO (and director of Red Lyra), says: “Blockchain has the potential to become the biggest breakthrough in history in the way we share any digital element, whether it’s a document, a service, a show ticket or money.”
Among its founders are also notaries and lawyers who will “ensure the security and veracity of information through the identification of natural and legal persons”.
Alastria says digital ID will be the focus in its beginnings through the standard of its “ID Alastria”, which will allow citizens to have “control over their personal information in a transparent way following the guidelines set by the European Union”.
On the network, firms can create digital representations of the assets with which they work in their usual economic activity, also known as tokens. With these tokens, Alastria reckons it is possible to develop new products and services quicker.
The Alastria network, a semi-public blockchain, is made up of nodes – computers hosted by several participants – and provides shared accounting recording services.
