Part A of the best practices report covers the observations and best practices from the early stages of setting up the sandbox and communicating it publicly, through the first applications phase and selection of the first cohort of use cases, to the outreach to regulators and authorities, and the beginning of the first set of dialogues.

The aim of the project is to "provide a framework for regulators, supervising authorities and blockchain innovators to engage in regulatory dialogue, identify obstacles from a legal and regulatory perspective in a safe and confidential environment", and thus increase "legal certainty for innovative decentralized technology solutions, including blockchain". The Sandbox allows regulators and supervisors to "enhance their knowledge of cutting edge blockchain technologies".

On crowdfunding and ICOs, the Commission said that it had noticed that new services, such as crowdfunding or peer-to-peer activities, do not always fall fully under the existing EU regulatory framework, with the result that Member States are developing conflicting local regimes.

According to the Commission, this lack of common EU rules hampers the development of crowdfunding in the EU and also prevents crowdfunding providers to scale up.

In addition to the action plan, the Commission presented a proposal for a Crowdfunding Regulation, which would ensure that investment- and lending-based crowdfunding services come under a single set of rules.

In this regard, the Commission has mooted the creation of a passporting regime for crowdfunding platforms, which would enable them to offer their services throughout the EU, while investors would be protected by clear rules on disclosure, risk management and governance and a coherent approach to supervision.

On ICOs, the Commission said that the recent "volatility of crypto-assets requires a better understanding of the risks and opportunities that go with their use and a better understanding of the applicability of EU regulation".

The Commission will therefore continue to access the risks and opportunities of ICOs as well as the suitability of the current EU legal framework and whether the EU should take any regulatory action.