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European Union (EU) legislators have reached an agreement to continue the controversial Data Law that has previously attracted the attention of the cryptocurrency community. The completion of the deal was confirmed by EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton on Twitter, calling it “a milestone in changing the digital space.”
another deal!
⁰Tonight’s agreement on the #DataAct is a milestone in reshaping the digital space.Thanks to the swift work of the EP @delcastillop & the Council Presidency, we are on the way of a thriving data economy that is innovative & open — on our conditions. pic.twitter.com/vTWUU8xTx9
— Thierry Breton (@Thierry Breton) June 27, 2023
The data law was passed by the European Parliament on March 14 and is awaiting negotiations between EU lawmakers on the final version of the bill. The Data Act aims to promote fair use of industrial data and remove obstacles to the fair sharing of data generated by a number of data-centric services such as the Internet of Things.
The European Parliament said that this act will promote greater use of data resources for training algorithms, which will ultimately lead to a reduction in the cost of services. However, this act has drawn sharp criticism from the cryptocurrency community due to proposals regarding smart contracts and their wagens.
The Data Law has provisions to introduce changing requirements for smart contracts, including kill switches to allow them to be safely terminated. The law establishes rules for smart contracts for parties providing shared data, including “secure termination and interruption,” and includes security measures to maintain trade secrets and prevent illegal data transfers.
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Many cryptocurrency proponents believe that new EU legislation will force smart contract developers to develop reset capabilities to allow transactions to be terminated or aborted. This could limit innovation or make it harder to enforce smart contracts in the cryptocurrency industry, some in the industry are worried.
Dr. Martin Heesbock, head of research at Uphold, previously noted that smart contracts are one step closer to being subject to pan-European regulation as part of a broader strategy in the data markets.
Cointelegraph reached out to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton for comment on the raging smart contract controversy, but received no response at press time.