On Thursday, the Iota Foundation, which oversees developments in the namesake Internet-of-Things transactions blockchain (IOTA), announced that it had been selected as one of five contractors by the European Commission to develop blockchain and distributed ledger technology in the region. According to the announcement, phase 2A aims to advance European Blockchain Services Infrastructure, or EBSI, in five areas: It will investigate the feasibility of sharding as to exponentially scale the Iota network on EBSI. Develop an approval weight consensus mechanism that will be highly flexible and allow both permissionless and permissioned use cases. Ensure any Iota-based solution for cross-border transfers abides by EBSI governance structures and any regulatory requirements from EU member states. I...