INATBA
INATBA, the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications, is a nonprofit association in Brussels for companies, public bodies and researchers that work with blockchain technology. INATBA was launched in April 2019 at an event of the European Commission and now has about 140 industry members from 38 countries. It wants to promote blockchain adoption in fields such as law, finance and education.
INATBA keeps a permanent dialogue with public authorities and regulators, with the aim of bringing national rules on blockchain closer together. Its working groups on finance, privacy, identity and education publish reports, position papers and answers to public consultations. A standards committee works on interoperability guidelines and global standards for distributed ledger applications.
Members and membership categories
INATBA sorts its members into four categories by size: large, medium, small and micro. The large members include Deutsche Börse, the French public financial institution Caisse des Dépôts and the technology firm Izertis. Blockchain.com, the IOTA Foundation, Eastnets and Halborn are among the medium-sized members, and the smaller members include the crypto custodian Tangany and Bitbond.
According to its membership page, members contribute to reports, speak at roundtables and events, and meet officials from the advisory bodies of INATBA. They also get access to a members-only portal and appear in spotlight sessions on social media.
Board of directors
Belén Suárez of Go To Innovation chairs the board of INATBA, with Tareq Shaheen of Eastnets as board secretary and Joaquín Precioso of Izertis as treasurer. The other board members are Gabi Urrutia of Halborn, Vera Radeva of XRPL Commons and Ismael Arribas of Kunfud. An executive team with Cyntia Sarmanyova as engagement coordinator and Antonio Vargas as project administration and communications lead runs the association day to day.
Finance working group: DeFi, staking and tokenization
The Finance Working Group of INATBA is co-chaired by Jean-Christophe Mathonet of ProSquare and Izzat-Begum B. Rajan of Imani Partners. Its report on DeFi self-regulation proposes real-time dashboards for liquidity and collateral as well as strict audits. KYC and AML checks should apply at centralized on- and off-ramps instead of inside decentralized protocols.
A guide on staking and DeFi taxation argues that staking rewards should be taxed only when tokens are converted into fiat money. The tokenization report of the working group from November 2025 covers token types, use cases and the rules for crypto-assets in the EU, the United Kingdom and Liechtenstein, including MiCA.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Belgium
INATBA Awards
The INATBA Awards honor blockchain and DLT projects as well as the members and top contributors of the association. The third edition ended with a gala dinner and awards ceremony at Autoworld in Brussels in January 2025. Guests came from the European Commission, the European Parliament and national supervisors such as the French Autorité des marchés financiers. Nominees went through a voting round before the winners were announced at the gala.
Governmental and Academic Advisory Bodies
The Governmental Advisory Body of INATBA has 42 organizations from more than 32 countries, including national governments and supranational bodies. It helps authorities and policymakers follow the development and regulation of blockchain technology worldwide, and Clara Guerra of the Government of Liechtenstein was its chair at the 2025 awards. The Academic Advisory Body brings together 64 members from 20 countries for joint research and education on blockchain.
Events and partnerships
INATBA runs roundtables, workshops and a technical standardization program in Brussels and partners with blockchain conferences in Europe. Its partner events in 2026 included the Point Zero Forum in Zurich and, in September, the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona. In June 2026 the association celebrated its seventh anniversary with a gala at TheMerode in Brussels.
Address in Brussels
INATBA is registered in Belgium as an international nonprofit association with the company number BCE 0725685704. The office of the association is at Avenue de Tervueren 188a/4 in 1150 Brussels. The launch in 2019 took place at the Residence Palace in Brussels, with industry, startups, regulators and standard-setting bodies.
INATBA and Finance Loop
Finance Loop was an official media partner of the European Blockchain Convention 2026 in Barcelona, an event that INATBA also listed among its partnerships. Banks, asset managers and blockchain firms in the Finance Loop network ask the same questions as the INATBA working groups, about MiCA licensing, tokenized securities and the treatment of DeFi.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.