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Payments firm Worldline to lead EU blockchain trust project

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Today digital payments firm Worldline announced it was selected to lead the EU’s TruBlo or Trusted Blockchain project. The research initiative will explore blockchain solutions for trust and reputation, especially in social networks. Additionally, it will investigate proof of location and proof of validity for user-generated content.

Backed by the EU’s Horizon 2020 funds, the project will assess up to 450 proposals over three calls for research. Of those, 45 will receive some funding, with nine to be funded through to completion. The first call launched on January 18 and will close on March 19.

TruBlo aims to develop “new blockchain solutions to ensure the exchange of reliable content on social networks and in the media,” said Toni Paradell, R&D manager at Worldline Iberia & Group coordinator of TruBlo. “The 9 projects that are implemented will be key to creating trust models that power the exchange of content generated by individuals from any device.”

The project is part of the European Commission’s  Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.

As with most Horizon 2020 projects, the research involves a pan-European consortium. Other participants include the Spanish blockchain consortium AlastriaF6S, which operates blockchain accelerators, German media firm Deutsche Welle, Greece’s ICCS part of Athens University and the Athens Technology Center (ATC), which also runs innovation labs. 

Several of the same organizations – Worldline, Deutsche Welle, and ATC – participated in the EU-funded Bloomen project, which targeted blockchain for photos, videos and music. In that case, the focus was more on using blockchain to track intellectual property.