Will blockchain run afoul of GDPR? (Yes and no)
As the EU prepares to roll out new data protection regulations this month, concerns are emerging that they could dissuade businesses from rolling out blockchain-based projects because the online transaction technology might innately break the new rules.
The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) targets citizens' personally identifiable information (PII), providing transparency around its use and giving people the right to restrict its use or request it be deleted all together.
While GDPR never mentions PII, the new rules describing "personal data" are synonymous with it: "Any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual. Different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal data." In short, it means any data that can be tied back to person's identity.