{"id":98,"date":"2021-11-27T15:20:35","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T13:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebsi4ro.ro\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2022-10-06T13:28:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T11:28:31","slug":"romanian-blockchain-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ebsi4ro.ro\/ro\/romanian-blockchain-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecosistemul Blockchain din Rom\u00e2nia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Report by Carmen<\/a>, Victor<\/a> & Tudor Holotescu<\/a>\n

Published in January 2022, last updates \"*\" on September 23, 2022\n<\/i><\/p>\n

Based on an active implication, extensive research, and monitoring of the Romanian Blockchain scene since 2017, this work is a continually updated report of the prima \u00eencercare de cartografiere a ecosistemului blockchain din Rom\u00e2nia<\/a> published in 2018, followed by the report<\/a> published on Medium in January 2021.<\/p>\n

The new report is published under the auspices of the project “EBSI4RO: Conectarea Rom\u00e2niei prin Blockchain<\/a>“, the most important Blockchain educational initiative of the moment in Romania, the first two authors being part of the implementation team.<\/p>\n

Without claiming exhaustiveness, the report offers a fresh perspective of the vibrant, diverse and mature initiatives in the field.\n Romania has a growing number of experienced companies, innovative startups and projects (\"*\" over 120 are presented below), active accelerators, many communities and events (section 1), and also numerous educational programs, initiatives and policy proposals (section 2).<\/p>\n

During the last two years there were registered numerous innovative government projects, including the developing of a Blockchain strategy and initiatives for specific national legislation for crypto-assets\n and Blockchain, also some pioneering projects in Europe, such as the Blockchain voting reporting tool for the national parliamentary elections in 2020, and a national system and policies for verifiable diplomas and micro-credentials on the Infrastructura european\u0103 a serviciilor blockchain (EBSI)<\/a> (sections 1.11, 1.12, 2.6).<\/p>\n

\"*\" Part of the findings of this work are presented in the new EU Blockchain Ecosystem\n latest developments<\/a>, a report of the <\/span>EU\n Blockchain Observatory<\/a>, published on September 9, 2022, for which Carmen Holotescu<\/a> was the Romanian expert<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n \n \n
1.General Initiatives<\/a>
\n 1.1.Regulations<\/a>
\n 1.2. Companii \u0219i Start-up-uri<\/a> \"*\"
\n 1.3. NFT initiatives<\/a>
\n 1.4. Minerit<\/a>
\n 1.5. Mass-media \u0219i \u0219tiri<\/a>
\n 1.6. Conferin\u021be \u0219i evenimente<\/a>
\n 1.7. Hackathon-uri<\/a>
\n 1.8. Payments<\/a>
\n 1.9. Communities<\/a>
\n 1.10. Training<\/a>
\n 1.11. EU Funded Projects<\/a>
\n 1.12. National projects and policies<\/a> \"*\"
\n 1.13. Activities at European Level<\/a>
\n 1.14. Influencers<\/a>
\n
\n Conclusions and proposals<\/a>
\n Notes<\/a><\/td>\n 		2. Educational initiatives and projects<\/a>
\n 2.1. Academic Courses and Programs<\/a>
\n 2.2. Research<\/a>
\n 2.3. Educational Conferences and Workshops<\/a>
\n 2.4. Educational Blockchain projects<\/a>
\n 2.5. Other educational initiatives<\/a>
\n 2.6. Educational Policy Proposals<\/a><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n

<\/a>1. General\n Initiatives<\/h1>\n

<\/a>1.1.\n Regulations<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00cen martie 2018, \u00eentr-un comunicat de presa<\/a>, the al B\u0103ncii Na\u0163ionale a Rom\u00e2niei<\/a>\n strengthens its position expressed in March 2015, drawing attention to the\n high risk of investments in digital currency, discouraging any involvement\n in them.<\/p>\n

The Legea 30\/2019<\/a>, in force\n from January 20, 2019, establishes a taxation of incomes made by\n individuals from cryptocurrencies if the earnings exceed 600 lei per year.<\/p>\n

As there is no legal framework in\n the EU to provide a definition and regulation on digital currencies,\n digital foreign exchange services and providers of custody wallets, this\n has materialized with the adoption of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering\n and Terrorism Financing Directive<\/a>, also called 5AMLD – the\n implementation of additional measures regarding the transparency of\n financial transactions. The Government of Romania adopted an Emergency Ordinance on July\n 1, 2020<\/a>, privind modificarea \u0219i completarea Law 129\/2019<\/a>, which also\n transposes the 5AMLD into Romanian legislation. On this topic, check also\n the article Romania Is on the Way to\n Blockchain and Crypto Regulation<\/a> pe Cointelegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vineri, 29 martie 2019, National\n Bank of Romania<\/a> organizat, \u00een parteneriat cu Universitatea de Vest din Timisoara<\/a>,\n a conferinta<\/a> in which\n there were presentations related to the causal link between Fintech,\n Blockchain as disruptive technologies and cryptocurrency, market security,\n and also efficiency of the payment systems.<\/p>\n\n

The al B\u0103ncii Na\u0163ionale a Rom\u00e2niei<\/a> (BNR) has an active participation at the European level in projects related to the crypto-assets regulations. BNR has a Cryptocurrency and Digital Currency Office,<\/a> supervised by Jean Bucur, Strategy Consultant<\/a>.
\n \"*\" In September 2021, a team of experts from the National Bank of Romania (BNR) started working on a CBDC pilot developed in a closed testing environment, to gain a better understanding of the concepts related to technical, security, and legal issues, as well as the policy implications regarding the potential issuance of the Digital RON, as presented by Jean Bucur, at a Banking 4.0 event<\/a>, in May 2022.<\/p>\n

The chapter “The\n Virtual Currency Regulation Review: Romania”<\/a> published in September\n 2021 by Tudor Velea<\/a> si\n Alexandru\n Stanescu<\/a> in the book “The\n Virtual Currency Regulation Review”<\/a> – 4th edition, offers a broad\n and critical review of this topic, providing clarity on potential\n operational and legal risks in the absence of guidance from relevant\n national authorities. <\/p>\n\n

<\/a>1.2.\n Companies and Start-ups<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"*\" This report presents over 120 Romanian Blockchain companies and start-ups (other tens are already collected and will be added at the next update), being the most comprehensive such list. The valuable recent report B-hub for Europe blockchain ecosystems<\/a>, published by\n B-hub for Europe<\/a> on January 26, 2022 estimated the existance of 50 Romanian Blockchain startups, and 85 funding deals, totalizing 65 milion euro in 2021. It is difficult to evaluate the real number of companies and startups activating in the domain – could be at least 250 (number that is agreed by other experts\/practitioners in the field), and more research and methodological mechanisms are needed.\n Just to mention that there exist at least 70 companies having Blockchain, Crypto, Bitcoin, Ethereum, NFT, Token, Decentralized\/Decentralised, DLT or Metaverse in their names, as revealed by a search on a directory of Romanian companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Zitec<\/a>, Modex<\/a>, Elrond<\/a>, Qualitance<\/a>, Cegeka<\/a>, Tremend<\/a>, Restart Energy<\/a>, Aurachain<\/a>, BlueDrive<\/a>, Sub Biroul de Dezvoltare<\/a>\n – acquired by Zitec<\/a>\n \u00een ianuarie 2021, CryptoDATA<\/a>,\n Around25<\/a>,\n RebelDot<\/a>,\n SpaceGiant<\/a>,\n Softbinator\n Technologies<\/a>, CFT\n Solid<\/a>, CertSign<\/a>\n with the eIDAS wallet certME<\/a>, LEW<\/a>, Enersec<\/a>, Blockchain Engineering<\/a>,\n Arobs<\/a>,\n TailPath<\/a>,\n Transylvania\n High Tech<\/a>, WebitFactory<\/a>, HungryBytes<\/a>, Sether<\/a>, Centrys<\/a>, ProvablyFair<\/a> are\n Romanian companies specialized in Blockchain development.<\/p>\n Elrond<\/a>,\n coordinated by Beniamin Mincu<\/a>, aims of creating the\n backbone for a high bandwidth, transparent financial system, and extending\n universal access to anyone, anywhere. Swapping from ERD on Binance<\/a>, Elrond’s eGold cryptocurrency (EGLD)<\/a>\n debuted in the eToro ecosystem on the 23rd of December 2020, becoming\n available on the eToroX<\/a>\n schimb de criptomonede.<\/p>\n

On January 28, 2021, the capitalization of EGLD, the cryptocurrency launched by Elrond, reached USD 1 billion – prompting headlines<\/a> about the second Romanian unicorn, after the robotic process automation (RPA) leader UiPath<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In August 2021, Elrond announced\n that the network has become the first carbon\n negative European Blockchain<\/a>, opening a new wave of sustainable\n innovation in line with the European climate policy.<\/p>\n

\u00cen octombrie 2021 Elrond has acquired Capital\n Financial Services S.A.<\/a>, a payment processor and registered\n Electronic Money Institution. Operating under the brand name Twispay<\/a>, being a\n principal member of Visa and Mastercard and offering payment processing\n services to more than 300 merchants, including companies such as Blue Air,\n Romania’s largest airline.<\/p>\n

In March 2022, the Romanian\n Central Bank, has approved the acquisition of Twispay by Elrond<\/a>,\n this being an important decision with implications for the evolution of\n digital finance in Europe, Elrond establishing itself as a bridge between\n traditional finance and the crypto space.<\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nOn August 26, 2022, Elrond announced<\/a> that the UK-based fintech company Revolut has added EGLD in its own banking app thus EGLD becoming available to Revolut\u2019s 20M+ users in 30+ countries.\n<\/p>\n\n

Modex<\/a> offers fully integrated data\n protection solutions and aims to make digital technologies user-friendly\n for organizations and people. The Modex Blockchain Database (Modex BCDB)\n platform allows companies to implement their first Blockchain project in\n just a few days instead of a few months, offering real data integrity, log\n immutability and data security. <\/p>\n

\u00cen 2019 \u0219i 2020, BCR-InnovX Accelerator<\/a>\n al Romanian Commercial Bank<\/a> selectate dou\u0103 proiecte Blockchain: Enersec<\/a>‘s collaborative\n platform for IoT systems protection and Modex<\/a>‘s project for managing banking\n databases.<\/p>\n

Zitec<\/a> is a\n company specialized in the development of digital transformation\n solutions, customized services and technological products, mobile\n applications, Blockchain, as well as digital marketing services. Its Blockchain\n portfolio<\/a> consists of projects such as Persona, Aurus<\/a>,\n Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX<\/a>), Crypto One-Stop_Shop (COSS)<\/a>. Zitec was\n awarded as the company of the year at ANIS\n Gala<\/a>, on March 31, 2022 (ANIS<\/a> –\n Employers' Association of the Software and Services Industry).<\/p>\n

La \u00eenceputul anului 2018 Restart Energy<\/a> was\n launched, being a Blockchain-based energy ecosystem developed in Timisoara\n and cea mai rapid\u0103 cre\u0219tere<\/a>\n private energy and gas provider in the EU. At the beginning of 2021, the\n company a intrat \u00eentr-o societate mixt\u0103<\/a>\n cu sediul \u00een Washington, DC Interlink Strategii de capital<\/a> to develop\n 500 million dollars in green energy in Romania and neighboring countries\n as well as to expand into the US market with an innovative Blockchain\n electricity trading platform.<\/p>\n

Humans.ai<\/a>\n is a deep-tech startup, with offices in Bucharest, London and Amsterdam,\n offering synthetic media products – simulating human voice, image and\n gestures using AI. The company introduced the first framework for ethical\n AI with Blockchain, and is also creating NFTs and cryptocurrency tokens\n linked to AI – Talkens<\/a>. In April 2022 it announces<\/a>\n a new listing for its $HEART token on top tier Asian crypto exchange\n Liquid, a new step towards Humans.ai’s continued growth in the East Asian\n market.<\/p>\n

Aurachain<\/a> dezvoltat o low-code platform for Blockchain\n applications<\/a>. The company is the new technology partner for the\n Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and the Central Securities Depository, for\n dou\u0103 solu\u021bii inovatoare<\/a>\n to accelerate and optimize the shareholder voting process at exchange\n listed companies using Blockchain technology, and to facilitate access to\n the capital market by digitizing investor enrollment (from December 2020).<\/p>\n

\u00cen iulie 2020 CryptoDATA<\/a> launched into Earth’s\n stratosphere<\/a> an experimental satellite that it plans to use for\n testing a new encrypted communication protocol called the Voice Over\n Blockchain Protocol (VOBP). The project is called GLOBAR and is a new\n global network that aims to communicate and transfer data between user\n terminals.<\/p>\n

Euroledger<\/a>, fondat de Geomina\n Richardson<\/a>, was building a user activation tool for marketplaces,\n enhancing trust between their users by facilitating transfer of their\n reputational data from other platforms in a verified way. The start-up was\n accelerated by the EU Blockstart<\/a> project, in 2019; the platform is not any more active since January 2022.<\/p>\n

\n \"*\" Launched in the middle of 2021, the Herity Network<\/a> is an innovative environment for Seed Investments and NFT marketplace, developed by an experimented team, coordinated by Alexandru Macovei<\/a> (CEO & Legal) and Anna Mera<\/a> (Head of partnerships). The Herity Network’s token is $HER, a Binance Smart Chain cryptocurrency. A percentage of the sell transaction fee goes to the charity system and buyback\/manual burns. In March 2022, having as the motto “help the little guy”, the start-up came up with a large-scale initiative<\/a> to support refugees in Ukraine, mobilizing the crypto community in Romania and abroad. In August 2022, the project reported an exposure of minim 1 milion people, making it one of the most marketed Crypto Project in Europe.\n<\/p>\n

Instant Factoring<\/a>, Morfin<\/a>, Minutizer<\/a>, Paybilla<\/a>, Oveit<\/a>, enfineo<\/a>, Ccoin Network<\/a> si Symphopay<\/a> are only a few\n of a dynamic and impressive list of Fintech companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n

Techcelerator<\/a> is an\n accelerator which supported Blockchain start-ups such as BAAM, Stockberry,\n OncoChain, MedTech, DotX.<\/p>\n

\u00cen aprilie 2021, AgTech TM<\/a> by Agroland,\n an incubation program for innovative projects in agriculture, started to\n accelerate TailPath<\/a>\n fondat de Sebastian Cochinescu<\/a>, for a traceability\n use-case.<\/p>\n

WebDollar<\/a> is a cryptocurrency fully\n native to the World Wide Web, entirely written in JavaScript, built around\n the concepts of simplicity, lightness and portability. It uses a\n Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof of Work (NiPoPoW) consensus mechanism, and\n was developed by a group coordinated by Alexandru Ionut Budisteanu<\/a>,\n Forbes 30 under 30 Europe, Times magazine one of the most influential\n teens.<\/p>\n

Swazm<\/a> is a Blockchain infrastructure\n project, using decentralized storage and compute technologies to provide a\n turnkey solution for DApps. Swazm has partnered with\n Restart Energy<\/a> pentru a crea RED Platform<\/a> – a peer-to-peer system\n which utilizes cutting-edge blockchain and IoT technology in order to\n empower consumers to acquire and trade renewable energy cheaper, directly\n from producers.<\/p>\n

Code of Talent<\/a>, founded\n by Vlad Grigoriu<\/a> si Sorin Paun<\/a>, este decentralized learning\n platform<\/a>, integrating short lectures, token incentives, as well as\n direct interaction between instructors, learners, and employers. As part\n of the Blockchain structure, companies seeking labor can see the public\n ledger of skills from all participants and choose those that best fit\n their needs. Check also the articles at Business Review<\/a> si Economistas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"*\"\n Founded by Anna Mera<\/a>,WowMind<\/a> is an e-learning video-sharing platform for young people, using blockchain and AI to offer a gamified learning experience. The innovation lies on the model of the user earning tokens as they develop their knowledge. The innovation offers a NFT marketplace, where students can mint and sell their NFTs based on knowledge gained by finishing quizzes, lessons or drawings.\n\n <\/p>\n

Oracol<\/a> is a mass integration project,\n having as objectives the adoption of Oracol Xor, the Oracol World Social Network<\/a>\n cre\u0219terea \u0219i promovarea pl\u0103\u021bilor mobile folosind Oracol Xor. CEO-ul s\u0103u este\n Adrian Florea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OncoChain<\/a>, fondat de Madalin Margan<\/a>, aims to\n improve the quality of oncological care by creating a framework to\n facilitate collection of real-world data and provision of value-based\n care. It was a winner of the Startupper-ul anului 2019<\/a>\n \u0219i a reu\u0219it s\u0103 atrag\u0103 diferite finan\u021b\u0103ri.<\/p>\n \n

aBey – Multi-Layered Programmable Blockchain\n High Volume Financial Transactions<\/a>, operat de ABEY Foundation<\/a> and\n coordinated by Ciprian Pungila<\/a> si Viorel Negru<\/a>, is a\n multi-layered, scalable, secure model of a programmable Blockchain\n approach to digital currency, aimed towards high-volume e-commerce\n systems.<\/p>\n

Ethernity CLOUD<\/a>,\n integrating Blockchain with the cloud technology and applying the Proof of eXecution<\/a>\n concept, has applications in many domains, especially in research – demo<\/a>. CEO-ul s\u0103u este Iosif Peterfi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TaskBar<\/a> is a gig\n economy project<\/a>, co-founded by Tudor Holotescu<\/a> in 2019,\n and accelerated by Hedera\n Hashgraph<\/a>. Tudor launched in 2021 HeadStarter<\/a>,\n a project\n accelerator and Launchpad<\/a> of the Hedera Hashgraph Ecosystem, which\n took the second prize at the Global\n Blockchain Congress<\/a>, in Dubai.<\/p>\n

Lanceria<\/a>\n is another gig\n economy project<\/a> for freelancers, founded in 2021 by Mihai\n Sebastian Sararu<\/a> from Timisoara, and developed by Zitec<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

BuiDLer Labs<\/a>, co-founded by Victor\n Holotescu<\/a> in 2022, in Timisoara, has developed Hedera\n Strato JS<\/a>, an\n implementation<\/a> of Hedera's JavaScript SDK looking to speed up\n development of web3 dApps.<\/p>\n

Blink<\/a> aims to build a better Internet –\n to empower content creators and readers alike, using a DLT protocol based\n on DAG-chain, the founders being Andrei Grigorean<\/a> si Mihai\n Ciucu<\/a> – descrierea proiectului<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dup\u0103 ce a c\u00e2\u0219tigat un Hedera hackathon<\/a> with the project “Payper – P2P micro-payments for the Open API Economy<\/a>“,\n Alex\n Males<\/a> dezvoltat Payable\n Web<\/a> – digital content, data and web services monetization solutions\n built on top of an awarded technology that facilitates micropayments with\n minimal friction.<\/p>\n

Openfabric.ai<\/a> is a\n decentralized AI platform in which the collaboration between AI\n innovators, data providers, businesses, and infrastructure providers will\n facilitate the creation and use of new intelligent algorithms and\n services; Roadmap: Q1 2019 Initial concept – Q1 2021 Prototype Launch.<\/p>\n

Fondat de SMART Start-up<\/a>, a\n project of West\n University of Timisoara<\/a>, Noletter<\/a> is an application for documents\n notarization developed by Tudor Birlea<\/a> pe Stellar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lansat de Miniprix<\/a> in 2019, the Seva.green<\/a>\n application uses Blockchain as a method for secure clothing and footwear\n donations, offering intelligent post-consumption solution that connects\n donors, couriers, social assistance institutions and beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nStakeborg<\/a> was founded by Vlad Mercori<\/a> in 2020, aiming to educate the public through the StakeBorg Talks, Stakeborg Youtube channels, StakeBorgDAO, the Crypto Insider newsletter, and Stakeborg Academy<\/a>. At the same time, Stakeborg developed the first decentralized autonomous organization in Romania – StakeBorgDAO<\/a>, with over 1000 members organized on Discord, aiming to encourage the adoption of the blockchain industry and support innovative projects in the crypto industry.\n<\/p>\n

\n\"*\" Launched in 2020 by Alex Cojocaru<\/a> and being part of the StepFWD Alumni from 2020 Cohort<\/a>, Licenseware<\/a> is an open app ecosystem for software license management, one of the features being to analyze software license contracts and blockchain-infused license management.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \"*\"\n selfd.id<\/a>, fondat de Radu Chirila<\/a>, is an integrated decentralized digital identity platform, that announced<\/a> in February 2021 the partnership with ICI Bucharest<\/a> with the aim of accelerating the digitization process of the national public system.<\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nSourceLess Blockchain<\/a> started in 2021 in Constanta, founder and CEO being Alexandru Stratulat<\/a>, brings a new technology that uses Distributed Ledger, Peer-to-Peer connections and Str.domain as the account identifier, to connect every human and every existing Blockchain, in a Web3 platform. Ccoin Network<\/a> Fintech and Wisp Communication were also founded by Alexandru Stratulat.<\/p>\n\n

\n\"*\"\nLaunched in 2021 and cofounded by Flavian Manea<\/a>, Bware Labs<\/a> tackles Web3 challenges and increasing its worldwide adoption by providing some of the industry’s most reliable infrastructure services and development tools.<\/p>\n\n

\n\"*\"\nRonin<\/a> is a blockchain-based platform for crowdfunding, launched at the end of 2021 and cofounded by Bogdan Almasi<\/a>; Assetto<\/a> is another startup in his portfolio that has to be started.<\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nClapArt<\/a>, launched in 2021, brings blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to the media and entertainment market, through a decentralized ecosystem, where artists would directly address the public for investment in the development and promotion of their work.
\nLudo<\/a>, started in 2022, offers a platform for indexing and scoring all NFTs from relevant blockchains, allowing creators to verify ownership for increasing user engagement. Co-founder for both initiatives is Adrian Stratulat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"*\"\n Lightpass<\/a> is a start-up founded in May 2022 by Razvan Braghesiu<\/a>\n si Radu Somesan<\/a>,\n aiming to offer a solution for the management of digital credentials (student IDs, diplomas, micro-credentials),\n for universities and training companies. The solution will be both EBSI and Sovrin compliant,\n using the standards W3C Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identifiers (DID), and also Trust over IP (ToiP).\n The start-up is accelerated by Rubik Hub<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"*\"\n Another start-up accelerated by Rubik Hub<\/a> is Identive, a blockchain-based SAAS built to fight intellectual theft, and counterfeit and track royalties in the Fashion industry, founders being Alexandra rean and Gabriel Dumitriu<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nCoreto<\/a>, launched in 2022 and founded by Iustina Faraon<\/a> si Vlad Faraon<\/a> is a social media platform aiming to create a secure environment for cryptocurrency and Blockchain investors, with a reputation-based mechanism. The platform with the $COR token provides verified crowdsourced information, also gamification elements, such as tasks, rankings, and leaderboards.<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\"*\"\n Farm XYZ<\/a> is a startup that turns yield farming into structured assets that everyone can use, CEO being Alexandru Mincu<\/a>. The startup was the Blockchain competition winner at the Banking 4.0 event<\/a>, in May 2022.\n <\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nWith co-founders and team members<\/a> from Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca, Morpheus<\/a> is a foolproof, blockchain-based authentication system powered by GPT3, Computer Vision, and AI, paving the way to Web3.0. The startup was one of the winners of Innovation Labs<\/a>, in July 2022.\n<\/p>\n

Axiologic<\/a>, CIVITTA<\/a>, Coinsby<\/a>, Valoria<\/a> si Smart Generation<\/a> offer\n consultancy in Blockchain. <\/p>\n\n

\"*\" We enlarge the list of the Blockchain companies and startups presented above with the ones provided by other reports:
\n – iFactor<\/a>, Carmel<\/a>, Migrantcoin<\/a>, Anchor<\/a>, Veelancing<\/a>, Welthee<\/a>, aRchiHype Origins<\/a>, Recycllux<\/a>, Ivory<\/a> – via B-Hub for Europe report<\/a>;\n
– Virtual Pangea<\/a>, Blockbits<\/a>, ro.exchange<\/a>, Hostero<\/a> – via Tracxn<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n\n

Since 2018, Consensys<\/a> has offices in\n Romania, in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca.<\/p>\n

In April 2022, the Austrian unicorn fintech\n Bitpanda<\/a> announced<\/a>\n the opening of a Talent Hub in Bucharest, in which it has invested 10\n million euros, and wants to hire over 70 IT specialists by the end of\n 2022. The coordinator is Rares\n Hutanu<\/a>, as Director of Engineering. The management team of the\n Austrian fintech also includes Irina\n Scarlat<\/a>, Chief Growth Officer (CGO) Bitpanda, former Revolut country\n manager in Romania, who was recognized by The Fintech Marketing Hub as one\n of the Top\n 30 Most Influential Fintech Marketers<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n\n

Also, Activize<\/a>\n from Cluj-Napoca, coordinated by Mircea\n Vadan<\/a>, publishes insightful analyzes on the Eastern\n European Startup Ecosystem<\/a>, and offers a Startup\n Ecosystem Radar<\/a> service.<\/p>\n

An analysis of Initial Coin\n Offerings (ICO) projects was published in the article Romania could be the next\n Berlin by 2020<\/a>, scris de Bogdan Florin Ceobanu<\/a> in\n 2018.<\/p>\n

\n \"*\"\n\n It is worth mentioning here ROStartup – Romania’s Startup Ecosystem Strategy<\/a>, a joint public-private action initiative,\n aimed to support the development of the first strategy for the Romanian Startup Ecosystem. The initiative is a multi-actor collaboration\n financed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM)\n and led by the North-East Regional Development Agency through Rubik Hub and supported by the World Bank Group (WBG).\n In August 2022, ROStartup and partners published Starting Up Romania – Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Diagnostic<\/a> si Scaling Up Romania – A Policymakers Toolkit<\/a>,\n which will be presented at the event “The Romania of future” in September 2022.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

<\/a>1.3. NFT\n initiatives<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

The first Romanian\n Martisor<\/a> was minted on March 2021 on OpenSea<\/a>,\n in April 2022 there are a\n few tens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On April 12, 2021, Delia<\/a> became\n the first renowned music artist in Romania to release an NFT<\/a>\n (Non-Fungible Token), for the song Racheta, which was auctioned on the\n OpenSea platform. <\/p>\n

\"*\"\n Gold Fever<\/a> is a challenging free-to-play survival RPG NFT game, launched in February 2021.<\/p>\n

In October 2021, at an exhibition at the Banat National Museum in\n Timisoara, the Romanian famous cartoonist Stefan Popa launched the\n “Leaders of the world seen by POPA’S” collection<\/a>\n as NFTs.<\/p>\n

Other Romanian NFT projects are presented in the article NFT\n marketing booming worldwide<\/a>, published in March 2022.<\/p>\n

In January 2022, more than 223,000\n NFTs<\/a> from more than 200 projects have been minted on the Elrond\n Network, and more than 22,000 accounts own at least one of them. The NFTs\n could be explored on Trust Market<\/a>.\n Maybe the most well-known is the collection of 10,000\n NFTs<\/a> al Subcarpati<\/a> band. In July 2022, Elrond reported<\/a> more than 6,000 NFT collections.<\/p>\n

Coordinated by the mathematics teacher, Eduard Alin Grosu, Small\n Giants<\/a> is a project<\/a>\n of pupils from a school in Constanta, who transform their artistic works\n in NFTs, and sell them in order to equip the IT laboratory. Thus they also\n learn about Blockchain and crypto.<\/p>\n

In March 2022, RevistaBiz<\/a>\n coordinated by Marta\n Usurelu<\/a> came with an innovative NFT\n cover<\/a>, the first one in the country; and the creator of the NFT is Marius\n Goleanu<\/a>, Head of Innovation KUBIS<\/a>.\n The money raised from the NFT auction were donated to Hope\n and Homes for Children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In March 2022 too, the Romanian health tech platform SanoPass<\/a>\n has opened the digital portal sanopass.io<\/a>\n to explore Web3.0 and the Metaverse for access to health services in\n Romania and Moldavia. sanopass.io<\/a> marks\n the launch of a collection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), SanoCubs, on the\n Blockchain of the Romanian platform Elrond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Energy Vampires<\/a> is a collection\n of 10,000 Elrond NFTs, created by a talented Romanian visual artist and\n designer. The project aims to be an ecosystem to increase the production\n of renewable energy, each NFT providing the development\/acquisition of\n renewable energy production for reducing carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

On April 14, 2022, Sebastian\n Burduja<\/a>, at that moment a member of Romania's Parliament and entrepreneur, and since April 2022 the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, announced<\/a>\n a NFT collection to support the reconstruction of Ukraine, including 9\n NFTs, representing the martyr cities.<\/p>\n

\n \"*\"\n \n MOCAPP<\/a>, the Influencer Ads platform that connects brands and influencers, founded by Florin Grozea<\/a> in 2017, announced<\/a> in June 2022 the launch of the I.AM program (Influencers Academy for the Metaverse), a Web3 education initiative dedicated to influencers, content creators and artists. In this regard, MOCAPP develops a strategic partnership with Ludo<\/a>, the first universal search engine for the Metaverse (NFTs, Apps and Experiences).\n <\/a>\n

\"*\" At the beginning of July 2022, Mirel Bran<\/a>, correspondent of Le Monde newspaper and producer of the show “We come from the future”, broadcast by Radio France International Romania, published the first Romanian book as NFT, “Technosophy, the wisdom of technology”. The 52 chapters of the book are illustrated by a collection of 52 NFTs<\/a>, AI-based images created by Irina Raicu<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

Vlad\n Dumitrescu<\/a>, founder of Illustrescu<\/a>,\n is one of the most talented NFT creators – check this katai\n podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BuiDLer Labs<\/a>, co-founded by Victor\n Holotescu<\/a> in 2022, in Timisoara, has developed Hedera\n Strato JS<\/a>, an\n implementation<\/a> of Hedera's JavaScript SDK looking to speed up\n development of web3 dApps. To illustrate the utility of the Hedera Strato\n JS library, the BuiDLer Labs<\/a> team\n is showcasing an\n example<\/a> of minting and transferring NFTs through Smart Contracts\n 2.0, explaining what the library is doing and how it behaves in comparison\n to the main SDK. The library is used also for conceiving a project for NFT\n in Education.<\/p>\n

\n \"*\" Already presented in a previous section, the Herity Network<\/a> is an innovative environment for Seed Investments and NFT marketplace.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"*\"\n\nOn 12 August 2022, Posta Romana<\/a>, the national operator for postal services, was the first public institution in Romania to launch \n a collection of 160 NFTs<\/a>, in the form of digital stamps, on the 160th anniversary, at the National Museum of Romanian History. The collection has a humanitarian purpose and can be purchased on the Oveit platform<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n\n

\"*\" On the occasion of 20 years of activity, in September 2022, Up Romania<\/a> offered its employees NFTs, with the aim of thanking them for being part of the team and to develop among them a comprehensive understanding of the potential of blockchain technology.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.5.\n Mining<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In Romania there are 39 nodes of\n the Bitcoin network, in April 2022 the country being on the 28th position\n in a top\n of 100 countries<\/a>; also, with 11 Ethereum nodes<\/a>, it is on\n the 32th position.<\/p>\n

According to an article<\/a>\n in April 2022, Tradesilvania.com<\/a>,\n the premium investment platform in Cluj-Napoca specialized in\n cryptocurrency trading, is launching the world’s first certification for\n crypto miners, both in Romania and internationally. The certificate\n validates the mining activity of cryptocurrencies and the source of funds\n used in mining, which can be used as a supporting document for both\n financial institutions or VAT deduction, for legal entities. The company\n estimates that between 500 and 1000 crypto mining certificates will be\n issued this year, for its own customers in Romania, where the number of\n crypto miners is estimated at 10,000 companies and individuals, as well as\n for its customers in the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.5. Media\n and News<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a>, the\n oldest and most established source of news, information and expert\n commentary on Bitcoin, was co-founded by Mihai Alisie<\/a> and Vitalik\n Buterin in 2012. It is now operated by BTC Media USA and was ranked the 7th\n on Blockchain\n Top 100<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n

Romanian journals\/sites\n specialized in Blockchain\/cryptocurrency are Bitcoin Journal<\/a> (Gazeta\n Bitcoin), Bitcoin\n Romania<\/a>, Running\n after Bitcoin<\/a> (Goana dupa Bitcoin), Cryptonews<\/a>, CryptoAdventure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crypto-Friday<\/a>\n (Crypto-Vineri) is a series of videos about cryptocurrency and Blockchain,\n realized by the journalist George Buhnici<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPGRADE 100<\/a>, a complex\n media project coordinated by Dragos Stanca<\/a>, has also\n many events and interviews related to Blockchain, such as the interview<\/a> cu Beniamin Mincu<\/a> despre Elrond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RevistaBiz<\/a>, Start-up<\/a>, StartupCafe<\/a>, Wall Street<\/a>, Romania Insider<\/a>, Economica<\/a>,\n NineoClock<\/a> publish also many\n articles about Blockchain.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.6.\n Conferences and Events<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In February 2017, Alex Tapscott\n delivered a presentation on Blockchain Revolution at the “Meet Global Thinkers“<\/span><\/a>\n Conference.<\/p>\n

“Blockchain – Disruptive\n Innovation”<\/a> was an event organized by the Romanian Chamber of\n Commerce, in June 2017, while in December 2017 d10e – The Leading\n Conference on Decentralization<\/a> a avut loc.<\/p>\n

Blockchain Talks<\/a> was\n organized in February 2018.<\/p>\n

The largest conference\n till now was the Romania Blockchain Summit<\/a>, organized in\n June 2019, by the Romanian\n Blockchain Association<\/a>. Next year, in 2020, an online event was organized – Virtual Blockchain Summit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edi\u021biile de Crypto Mondays<\/a> attracted\n interested participants and discussions around many projects.<\/p>\n

Future Banking<\/a> is an\n international conference organized in 2019, 2020 and 2021, which has drawn\n the Romanian Fintech Map: 2020 edition<\/a>, 2021\n edition<\/a>, both having the Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies category.\n Andreea\n Porojan<\/a>, Fintech Partnerships Manager at Raiffeisen Bank Romania,\n underlined that “most probably banks will be focusing and spending on in\n 2021 are: Cybersecurity (71%), cloud computing & storage (60%), AI\n & RPA (40%), Blockchain (37%)” at the event “Future\n Banking Outlook”<\/a> – 22 managers and Fintech founders on 2021 trends,\n challenges and where the money could flow.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Association “The\n mentoring project<\/a>” published the book “The\n Digital Romania<\/a>“, with chapters dedicated to Blockchain, while in\n May 2022 it organizes the meeting “Blockchain, NFTs, Smart contracts,\n Web3, Metaverse”, under the auspices of the Club Romania.<\/p>\n

While all the above events took\n part in Bucharest, three interesting conferences were organized in 2018\n and 2019 in Cluj-Napoca, Blockchain for Development\n Forum: The Future Now<\/a>, Transylvania Crypto\n Conference<\/a> si Mindchain<\/a>, which\n explored the interaction between Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence\n (AI).<\/p>\n

Spherik Accelerator<\/a> si\n B-Hub\n for Europe<\/a> a organizat evenimentul “The after-hype reality of\n Blockchain in Romania”<\/a>, in February 2020, in Cluj-Napoca too, and\n the online workshop “Blockchain: Public Sector\n Use Case”<\/a> \u00een 28 ianuarie 2021.<\/p>\n

In July 13-14, 2022, the Unchain\n Fintech Festival<\/a> was organized in Oradea, connecting Fintech and\n Blockchain global experts in the heart of Central and Eastern Europe, to\n uncover the potential of the region and partner in new business ventures.<\/p>\n

Banking 4.0 Crypto<\/a> editions are organized in May<\/a> and November 2022 in Bucharest, participants being\n central bankers, technology providers, developers, crypto and blockchain enthusiasts, as well as investors in digital assets to analyse the future of finance in the new era of digital money.\n <\/p>\n

<\/a>1.7.\n Hackathons<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00cen octombrie 2017, primul eHealth hackathon<\/a> was\n organized in Romania, and the winner was MedNet, an eHealth project based\n on Blockchain, aiming to protect patients’ personal data.<\/p>\n

In 2019, three hackathons<\/a> were\n organized by Modex<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 2021 the online Blockathon<\/a> took place,\n focused on engaging bright minds from the Blockchain & startup\n communities to contribute to the digitalization of processes\n in the public sector<\/a>. The hackathon was organized by Cluj Startups<\/a> & Spherik\n Accelerator<\/a> and powered by B-hub for Europe<\/a>, a project funded by\n the European Commission, through Horizon2020<\/a>, under the Startup\n Europe<\/a> umbrella.<\/p>\n

Hedera22:\n Hello Smart Contracts<\/a>, an online hackathon organized by Hedera<\/a>,\n took place between March 31- May 16, 2022. Among the sponsors there\n are HeadStarter<\/a> si BuiDLer\n Labs<\/a>, that proposed the Community\n Support Challenge<\/a> and disseminated the event in Romanian universities. One of the competition prize was gained by a team of students from Politehnica University of Timisoara<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.8.\n Payments<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

CryptoCoin<\/a>, LDV Crypto Exchange<\/a>, Tradesilvania<\/a>, vTrader<\/a>, PayU<\/a>, Tokero<\/a>, Imperium<\/a>, Coinzix<\/a>\n are exchange operators startups, while ZebraPay<\/a> kiosks can be used for digital\n currency purchase.<\/p>\n

Netopia mobilPay<\/a>\n integrated mobile payments using Bitcoin in 2014.<\/p>\n

A series of Romanian e-shops\n accept payments in Bitcoin (http:\/\/faturl.com\/shopsbtcro<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In the analysis of Consensys “This Global Heatmap Shows\n Retail Cryptocurrency Adoption”<\/a> (2019), Bucharest is mentioned:
\n “The largest crypto retail hubs in Europe are centered in London and\n Amsterdam, with Zurich and Zug propelling Switzerland into contention. The\n general spread of cryptocurrency adoption in Europe appears even and\n consistent, with cities like Berlin, Bucharest, and Madrid indicating\n remarkable growth and development.”<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.9.\n Communities<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Romanian Blockchain\n Association<\/a> was launched in March 2018, being coordinated by Armand Doru Domuta<\/a> – CEO\n of Restart\n Energy<\/a>, and Adrian Stratulat<\/a>, with the aims to inform and educate the Romanian public, and\n to provide the necessary tools to invest safely in a friendly legislative\n environment. It was the co-organizer of the Romania Blockchain Summit<\/a>\n in June 2019, followed by Virtual Blockchain Summit<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n

Blockchain Romanian\n Community<\/a> is another community, organized by BlueDrive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 2018 the Government Blockchain\n Association (GBA) Bucharest Chapter<\/a> was created, being coordinated\n by Nicolae\n Ghibu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Legal Blockchain Association was\n launched by Alexandru Pop<\/a>, for practitioners in\n legal and justice system.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of local groups of\n developers and enthusiasts in Blockchain technologies, which organize\n different events. In 2018, a series of meetups<\/a> were sponsored\n by ConsenSys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is worth mentioning that the Digital\n & Distributed Technology Moldova Association<\/a> was created in\n January 2018.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.10.\n Training<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

There are companies and\n organizations that offer courses about Blockchain: NobleProg<\/a>, Crystal Mind<\/a>, Life University<\/a>, Modex<\/a> which has an Academy<\/a> with a free MOOC for Blockchain Business Analyst<\/a>,\n also Webdollar<\/a>\n has an Academy<\/a>\n with short video tutorials.<\/p>\n

CryptoZZ<\/a>, fondat de Anna Mera<\/a>, is a project\n aiming to extend the knowledge about Blockchain and cryptocurrency, by\n organizing meetings and publishing educational videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\n \"*\"\n\nThe start-up StakeBorg<\/a> aims to be an educational hub that facilitates the adoption of blockchain technology in Romania and for its Academy<\/a>, Evelyne Vilcu<\/a>, one of the founders, took the price for Blockchain in education at Capital.ro Gala Top 100 Successful Women in Romania<\/a>, in June 2022.\n <\/p>\n

\n\"*\"\nFrom 02-23 September 2022 EIT Manufacturing East<\/a> si Austrian Blockchain Center – ABC Research<\/a> will host Blockchain in Industry 4.0 Certificate Programme: Blockchain in Industry 4.0<\/a> with on-site days Bucharest. This Certificate Programme focuses on the technological as well as the business aspects of Blockchain in Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT). The application and implementation of Blockchain technology in these fields are at the centre of the programme.<\/p>\n

It is worth mentioning the series of Facebook\n posts<\/a> al National\n Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest<\/a>,\n with basic notions related to Blockchain and NFT, starting with April 11,\n 2022 – the posts are tagged with #ICIBlockchainWeek and \"*\" #stiublockchain (#Iknowblockchain).<\/p>\n

Check also the section 2.\n Educational initiatives and projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>1.11. EU\n Funded Projects<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

“BLOCKS: Blockchain for Entrepreneurs – a\n non-traditional Industry 4.0 curriculum for Higher Education”<\/a> is an\n Erasmus+ project (2019-2021), coordinated by Bucharest Academy of\n Economic Studies<\/a>, other Romanian partners being Ovidius University of\n Constanta<\/a> si Zitec<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“B-hub<\/a> – Blockchain for Europe” is an\n H2020 project mobilizing five European ecosystems from Italy, Germany,\n Romania, France and Lithuania to develop Blockchain use by leveraging\n European technological excellence and supporting the growth of business\n models integrating the Blockchain. Spherik Accelerator<\/a> from\n Cluj-Napoca is the Romanian partner, and after the first call in the\n autumn of 2020, 8 Romanian start-ups<\/a> were being\n accelerated: AlphaBlock<\/a>,\n Balance<\/a>,\n Elrond<\/a>,\n FilmChain<\/a>,\n Moonlet<\/a>,\n Morfin<\/a>,\n Myneral\n Labs<\/a> si Tailpath<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

Spherik Accelerator<\/a>\n organized also the training<\/a> “Blockchain:\n Applicability & Potential for Transformation in the Romanian Public\n & Private Sectors”, in November 2020 and January-February 2021.<\/p>\n

As a member of the team, Ecaterina Silova<\/a> had the\n presentation “The Romanian Blockchain ecosystem – lessons learned so far”\n at Legal\n Accelerators<\/a>, in November 2020.<\/p>\n

Coordinated by University\n Claude Bernard Lyon 1 France<\/a>, the CHAISE project<\/a> (2020 –\n 2024) is an Erasmus+ project aiming to develop a roadmap for increasing\n Blockchain training and jobs in the European Union; it will develop a\n certified training programme for Blockchain and DLTs and the first-ever\n “Blockchain specialist” occupational profile for Europe – a sintetic presentation<\/a> of the project. The Romanian National\n Qualifications Authority<\/a> is a partner<\/a> in this project,\n the project manager being Catalin\n Silvestru<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“EBSI4RO: Connecting Romania through\n Blockchain”<\/a> is a CEF Telecom<\/a> Blockchain\n project, which runs between April 2021 –  March 2023, partners being\n the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development\n and Innovation –  UEFISCDI<\/a> – coordinator being Dr. Cosmin\n Cioranu<\/a> si Politehnica\n University of Timisoara – UPT<\/a> – coordinator being Prof.Dr.ing. Radu\n Vasiu<\/a>. The central scope of the project is to create an extendable\n and sustainable ecosystem to facilitate and accelerate the awareness,\n knowledge and adoption of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure\n (EBSI)<\/a> by the Romanian citizens, businesses, institutions and\n administration.
\n The main objectives of the projects are:<\/p>\n