The German financial watchdog (BaFin) issued a new summary leaflet detailing how cryptocurrencies are treated under newly enacted laws for 2020. The instructions are presented as BaFin’s interpretation of the new German legislature. The March 2 leaflet “specifies the new regulatory standards” that businesses will need to adhere to should they wish to provide crypto custody services. This is understood as a generic term to include all businesses that hold crypto for clients, including exchanges, financial services or banks. The new crypto regulation introduced on Jan. 1, 2020 was part of a wider initiative to align German law with the …

Investors looking to short Bitcoin (BTC) have a new option in Germany. On Feb. 25, Boerse Stuttgart — the country’s second-largest stock exchange — announced the listing of an exchange-traded product (ETP) that is inversely correlated to the cryptocurrency’s price swings. Hedging against all scenarios The inverse ETP is issued by crypto fund manager 21Shares, formerly known as Amun. The product offers investors a positive return whenever Bitcoin’s price falls — minus a daily management fee. Already listed on Switzerland's principal stock exchange SIX Swiss Exchange, the 21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP (SBTC) will reach an even wider investor base via …

Two major players in the global blockchain industry have signed a strategic partnership to pool together their technological and operational achievements. According to a Feb. 19 press release, Canaan Creative, the world’s second-largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware manufacturer, and blockchain infrastructure firm Northern Data AG were joining forces to work across several fields. In particular, the two firms will cooperate on artificial intelligence and blockchain development, as well as on optimizing data center operations at scale. Expanding technology and global outreach Northern Data focuses on building out infrastructure for high-performance computing, whose applications can extend beyond blockchain technology. The company …

Blocknox, a subsidiary of Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures GmbH that has provided cryptocurrency custody service on an escrow basis, is looking to expand the service to its institutional clients. Boerse Stuttgart revealed the plans in a Feb. 18 tweet, detailing that Blocknox’s crypto custody offer will also be available to fintech companies, banks and asset managers. In a separate announcement on the exchange’s website, managing directors at Blocknox Raphael Polansky and Dr. Ulli Spankowski said: “With regard to the new legal regulation of crypto custody in Germany as of 1 January 2020, blocknox has already announced its intent to the …

A subsidiary of Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings is partnering with German tech company Northern Data AG and Texas-based data centers operator Whinstone US Inc. The partnership was revealed in a Feb. 13 announcement, detailing that Whinstone — a subsidiary of the Frankfurt-based Northern Bitcoin AG — will host SBI Crypto at its data center in Texas, as well as assist SBI Crypto in the development of blockchain-related projects. SBI CEO Carson Smith said that the firm had been making plans with Whinstone and Northern Data for the Texas mining farm since early last year. The announcement further noted …

On the heels of new Anti-Money Laundering laws, several German banks are reported to be seeking regulators’ go-ahead to offer digital assets services. Local newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Feb. 7 that Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is dealing with a cascade of applications from 40 banks seeking to become regulated cryptocurrency custodians. As of Jan. 2020, new legislation has permitted banks to extend their offerings beyond traditional securities such as stocks and bonds to include cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and XRP. “Both a blessing and a curse” As Handelsblatt notes, the new legislation gives those institutions that …

Major digital asset financial services firm BitGo is expanding its global reach by setting up two new regulated custodial entities in Europe. BitGo, a United States-based firm that claims to process over 20% of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions, has established new custodial subsidiaries in Switzerland and Germany, the company announced Feb. 10. As the two new entities are regulated by different financial authorities, BitGo intends to allow its clients to choose the jurisdiction that is best suited to their business. As such, BitGo GmbH, the Swiss entity of BitGo, is a member of the country’s major self-regulatory organization, the Financial …

According to a Feb. 3 press release, open source blockchain platform Waves established a non-profit organization called Waves Association in Frankfurt, Germany to provide effective governance for its own ecosystem, Web3, and to foster the development of DLTs, including public and private blockchain protocols. Uniting six countries The Waves Association will be represented by ten community members from six different countries: Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia. Waves founder Alexander Ivanov, who is also a member of the association, calls the launch of the Waves Association an important step for the company’s ecosystem: Through the Association, we will …

Major car manufacturer Mercedes Benz and blockchain startup Circulor are jointly rolling out a pilot aimed at the tracing carbon emissions in the cobalt supply chain. According to a Jan. 30 press release, the project by Mercedes and Circulor comes as part of the Startup Autobahn initiative, aimed at identifying next-generation automobiles. The companies will deploy blockchain to trace the emissions of climate-relevant gases and the amount of recycled materials along the complex supply chains of battery cell manufacturers. Mercedes eventually intends to use data collected during this pilot to develop its new carbon-neutral passenger car fleet. But first is …

Blockchain technology is an important tool in addressing the data protection crisis, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Brittany Kaiser believes. Kaiser, a former business development director at controversial British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, has discussed global data privacy issues in an interview with Cointelegraph on Jan. 23. Currently serving as co-founder at digital intelligence startup Own Your Data Foundation, Kaiser first came into the spotlight during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which revealed that the firm had collected raw data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles for the Trump campaign. Speaking with Cointelegraph’s head of news Dylan Love at the World …

Cash is unlikely to disappear anytime soon despite declining use as a payment method and the surge of digital currencies, Germany’s largest bank says. Deutsche Bank, a German multinational investment bank that previously predicted that cryptocurrencies will replace fiat by 2030, now claims that cash “will be around for a long time” as a preferred method of payment. Deutsche Bank Research issues three reports on the future of payments The bank has forecast a tentative future for cash in one of its recent “The Future of Payments” reports carried out by Deutsche Bank’s research arm Deutsche Bank Research. Titled “Cash: …

Japanese financial services giant SBI has partnered with Germany’s second-largest stock exchange Boerse Stuttgart Group to promote the adoption of digital assets. Specifically, SBI will invest an undisclosed amount in two digital asset-focused subsidiaries of Boerse Stuttgart Group — Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange (BSDEX) and Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures, Cointelegraph Japan reports Dec. 20. BSDEX is a new cryptocurrency exchange venture launched by Boerse Stuttgart Group in September 2019, while Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures is the parent company of Sowa Labs, a firm that developed crypto trading app Bison. SBI and Boerse Stuttgart Group to “create digital asset demand worldwide” …