Europe’s New Rules Could Force Entire Blockchains to Be Deleted 😱
The European Data Protection Board has released a draft of new guidelines that could seriously impact public blockchains like Ethereum.
🇪🇺 According to the document, if personal data recorded on a blockchain cannot be deleted individually, then regulators may require deleting the entire blockchain.
The guidelines recommend that organizations move away from public blockchains toward private blockchains that can be controlled.
Here are the main changes being proposed 👇
🔵Organizations must prove that using blockchain is absolutely necessary for their purpose.
🔵Smart contracts may have to include manual override options, even after they have been executed.
🔵Running blockchain nodes in multiple countries creates new legal risks under European data protection law.
🔵Storing personal data directly on the blockchain is strongly discouraged.
Public consultation on these rules will end on June 30. After that, the guidelines could become binding across the European Union.
🚩 Still don't understand why it matters? If these rules are adopted, decentralized blockchains like Ethereum and many others may no longer be legally allowed to operate in Europe unless they are heavily changed (which I think will never happen).
🙅♂️ This strikes at the fundamental idea of blockchain technology, which is that the data is permanent, global, and resistant to censorship.
This is not just about compliance. It is about whether public blockchains can survive at all under European law. Bureaucrats would rather cripple economic growth than loosen their grip on financial control 😠
