Europe is losing its cars.
And with them, its raw materials.
Every year, 3/4 million vehicles vanish from EU records.
Not recycled. Not tracked. Not recovered.
Just… gone.
With them go tons of copper, platinum, lithium, cobalt, and steel, the very materials Europe says it urgently needs for energy, defense, and digital infrastructure.
And why does this happen?
Because our systems don’t talk to each other.
Because registries stop at borders.
Because paperwork breaks where supply chains don’t.
As one industry expert put it: national systems meant to track vehicles are simply overwhelmed.
Which raises an uncomfortable question: If we cannot reliably track cars, objects that don’t even benefit from GDPR protection, how do we expect to secure strategic resources in a fragmented system?
If only there were an information infrastructure where data could be shared across Europe, tamper-proof, interoperable, and accessible to all authorized actors…
But that would require thinking beyond siloed databases.
We should talk sovereignty. We should talk resilience. But it's easier to talk cars.
But what about Europe? Is it ready to build systems that match the scale of its ambitions?
At OffChain Luxembourg, we believe the tools already exist.
The question is whether we’re ready to use them. 🧡
