search

Luxembourg has long been known for its world class financial centre. In fact, according to the Global Financial Centres Index, it is the leading Eurozone financial centre and second in the EU. Adding to the more traditional financial institutions are a growing number of fintech, start-ups and digital financial services companies as well as R&D centres, together positioning Luxembourg as a rapidly emerging fintech innovation hub.

Marco Houwen was approached in October 2016 by the government in his capacity as Chairman of LU-CIX A.S.B.L. with the idea of creating a European blockchain infrastructure. He immediately found the idea interesting although he is quick to add that it is a very early stage initiative.

In the simplest terms, blockchain is a digital ledger in which transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly. It can be a little difficult for the “non-techie” to understand but it is not as complicated as it sounds and it is certainly one of the hottest and most intriguing technologies currently in the market. It is also the direction in which many people think the world is going although there is still debate on the subject and there are many questions surrounding its implementation.

Transfer of trust in a trust less world

Blockchain records and stores every transaction that occurs in the network, essentially eliminating the need for “trusted” third parties such as payment processors. Blockchain proponents often describe the innovation as a “transfer of trust in a trustless world,” referring to the fact that the entities participating in a transaction are not necessarily known to each other yet they exchange value with surety and no third-party validation. For this reason, the blockchain is a potential game changer. (techtank Tuesday, January 13, 2015)

The Infrachain initiative is a PPP (Private Public Partnership) working towards a trusted and compliant community for blockchain orchestrated from out of Luxembourg. Openness to new technology and new actors is key and Luxembourg is the first country to announce such a community driven permissioned node network.

“In essence the objective of Infrachain is to leapfrog the adoption curve of blockchain by creating a blockchain-node environment with a supplementary governance level allowing blockchain POC (Proof of Concept) to become operational now and not when technology and regulatory environments finally meet which might not be for up to 5-10 years,” says Marco. “Infrachain is also the first node-independent network allowing us to address the large compliance challenges such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, know your counterparty or delivery of SLAs (Service Level Agreements).”

Infrachain, officially created as a non-profit organisation on May 18, 2017, has been a one of a kind initiative up until now and strives to become a large European node network with hundreds of host operators all over Europe. The Luxembourg State will become a founding member of the non-profit association. In the meantime, seven other private players have announced plans to board Infrachain, KPMG, KYC3, Scorechain, SnapSwap, Bitbank, Abax Consulting and Allen & Overy.

Creating value for people and markets

Luxembourgish born and fluent in English, German and French, Marco built up his international profile by participating in numerous industry forums and advisory groups. An entrepreneur of 18 years, Marco is motivated by “projects that create value for people and markets”.

Before getting involved in the fintech and virtual currencies industry, Marco founded LuxCloud S.A., a market leading provider of cloud service brokerage enablement, in 2010. Prior to that in 2000, Marco co-founded Datacenter Luxembourg S.A., now recognised as one of the biggest Internet success stories in Luxembourg.

“When we created Datacenter Luxembourg we set up the company at a time when there was no infrastructure so it was very grassroots as is Infrachain.  One of my driving forces is to bring e-business and e-commerce to Luxembourg. So as of 2001, we worked hard, constantly asking ourselves how we can improve the infrastructure and the internet environment in Luxembourg.”

Read more

How to succeed with your expansion into Europe: the experts’ top tips

14-03-2023

Some success factors for international companies wanting to expand into the European market are quite obvious: having the right product/market fit and an offering that suits the culture and behaviour of European customers and finding the right business partners, for example. Others are less evident, but can be at least as important. We put together 9 key points from Luxembourg-based experts with decades of experience of advising international businesses about their entry to Europe.
Read more

Fortress, history, identity

10-03-2023

Art and history lovers can find their heart’s desire in Luxembourg City by walking along the so-called MuseumSmile, which is home to no less than seven museums.
Read more

University of Luxembourg ranks 4th worldwide for its high international outlook

09-03-2023

The University of Luxembourg was ranked among the top 250 universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023. The multicultural and research-oriented university in Luxembourg, comprised of over 50% of foreign students, was ranked fourth in the world for its international outlook.
Read more

Luxembourg bags world’s best in talent attraction twice in a row

03-03-2023

Luxembourg’s reputation as the world’s top talent magnet has once again been acknowledged in the 2022 Global Talent Competitiveness Index. For the second year in a row, the Grand Duchy retained its no. 1 position for attracting talents and was ranked 11th out of 133 countries assessed in the index, making it one of the top performers globally.
Read more

Luxembourg’s AAA credit rating affirmed by Fitch and Scope

27-02-2023

Luxembourg retained its AAA rating with a stable outlook in the most recent Fitch and Scope ratings. Both credit rating agencies based their conclusions on Luxembourg’s high economic resilience, good governance indices, and robust public finances. Key takeaways from the rating agencies’ evaluation are detailed below.
Read more

Resources all news

Fermer