Europe is at a turning point in the global technological race, where blockchain has emerged as one of the most transformative tools for competitiveness, innovation, and digital sovereignty. The Spanish Blockchain Services Infrastructure (ISBE), driven by the Community of Madrid with European support, aims to provide the foundation for a new wave of projects that combine technological advancement with regulatory compliance. Far beyond a technical platform, ISBE represents a strategic public-private collaboration designed to accelerate entrepreneurship, empower SMEs, and strengthen Europe’s position in the global digital economy
ISBE: Blockchain Infrastructure for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Competitiveness in Europe
The Spanish Blockchain Services Infrastructure (ISBE) represents a decisive step toward the creation of a robust and sustainable digital ecosystem that places Spain and Europe at the forefront of blockchain innovation. Conceived as a public-private initiative led by the Community of Madrid, with European funding and the design and coordination of Alastria, ISBE is not only a technological platform but a strategic project that addresses one of Europe’s greatest challenges: ensuring digital sovereignty and competitiveness in the face of global technological powers such as the United States and China.
At a time when digital technologies are driving economic growth and redefining global value chains, Europe finds itself at a crossroads. According to the Draghi Report, in order to compete at a global scale, Europe must allocate close to 5% of its GDP to the development of infrastructures and strategic technologies. Within this context, blockchain stands out as a cornerstone technology with the capacity to transform industries such as finance, logistics, energy, healthcare, and public administration. Unlike other innovations, blockchain is not just a tool for optimization; it is a paradigm shift in how trust, transparency, and data security are managed in digital interactions.
ISBE was conceived as a multilayered and interoperable blockchain infrastructure, specifically designed to host and scale innovative projects. Its architecture provides a network of interconnected blockchain platforms capable of supporting both public and private use cases, enabling companies, startups, and administrations to deploy their applications on an environment that is reliable, compliant with European regulations, and tailored to the specific demands of different sectors. This vision goes beyond the mere availability of technological infrastructure: it positions ISBE as a catalyst for innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital trust across the European Union.
One of ISBE’s defining characteristics is its focus on reducing barriers to entry for entrepreneurs and SMEs. Blockchain adoption often encounters significant obstacles, such as the technical complexity of distributed ledger systems, high deployment and maintenance costs, and a regulatory landscape that, although advanced in Europe, is still evolving. ISBE addresses these challenges by offering a set of preconfigured technological resources: smart contracts ready to be customized and deployed, secure APIs that facilitate integration with existing systems, governance frameworks that define responsibilities and processes, and built-in compliance mechanisms. These features allow entrepreneurs to accelerate the journey from idea to market, cutting development times and costs while ensuring that projects remain fully aligned with European legal and ethical standards.
From a technological perspective, ISBE incorporates compliance by design with regulations that are critical for the future of Europe’s digital economy. Its infrastructure integrates the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the eIDAS2 regulation on digital identity, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), and the revised NIS2 directive on cybersecurity. This regulatory alignment transforms what is often seen as a burden into a competitive advantage: projects deployed on ISBE can guarantee data protection, interoperability, cybersecurity, and legal validity from their inception. For sectors such as healthcare, supply chain management, or financial services—where regulatory compliance is a non-negotiable element—this represents a decisive factor for success and international scalability.
Furthermore, ISBE is conceived as an interoperable ecosystem, both within Spain and across Europe. Its design ensures compatibility with other European blockchain initiatives, reinforcing the EU’s broader goal of building a cohesive digital single market. Interoperability is not only a technical requirement but also a strategic enabler that allows applications to operate across borders, facilitating cross-European services in areas such as digital identity verification, cross-border payments, logistics traceability, and secure data exchange in research and healthcare.
For Spain, ISBE represents an accelerator of the national technology industry, creating the conditions for local startups and SMEs to compete on a global scale. According to the 2024 Blockchain in Spain Survey conducted by Alastria, 69% of the country’s blockchain companies are small enterprises and 17% are medium-sized. These figures reveal that blockchain entrepreneurship in Spain is already dynamic, but also highlight the need for infrastructure, funding, and support mechanisms that allow these businesses to scale. By offering a ready-to-use platform that minimizes costs and regulatory risks, ISBE becomes a strategic tool to consolidate Spain as a European hub for blockchain innovation.
The project also contributes directly to Europe’s ambition of achieving digital sovereignty. In a geopolitical context marked by technological dependence on non-European actors, ISBE embodies the possibility of creating autonomous infrastructures that are not only secure but also consistent with European values of privacy, transparency, and inclusiveness. By enabling Spain to lead a pioneering initiative, ISBE demonstrates how public-private collaboration can play a fundamental role in building critical infrastructures that balance competitiveness with ethical responsibility.
Ultimately, ISBE is not simply an infrastructure project—it is a vision for the future of digital Europe. By bringing together technology, regulation, and entrepreneurship, it creates the foundations for a new generation of innovative solutions that will shape industries, empower citizens, and strengthen Europe’s position in the global technological landscape. To accelerate this transformation, four elements are essential: infrastructure, funding, talent, and regulation. ISBE directly addresses the first two, laying the groundwork for the others to flourish. With its deployment, Spain and Europe are advancing toward a more competitive, innovative, and sovereign digital future in which blockchain becomes not only a tool for efficiency but also a driver of economic growth, social trust, and global leadership.
