A group of four banks have successfully issued a promissory note — a type of legally binding loan agreement — through a new blockchain platform, a news release on May 21 announced. The financial institutions used finledger to complete the transaction. According to Helaba, one of the banks involved, the platform reduces the steps involved with issuing such a note by more than 50%. As well as eliminating the need for lenders to hold documents or for borrowers to send valuables, the banks claimed the technology helps cut the risks and costs associated with the process. DekaBank, dwpbank, DZ Bank …

A climate change initiative of the United Nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with nonprofit organization W-Foundation to collaborate on climate action, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 16. In accordance with the new MoU, the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will work with South Korea-based W-Foundation to promote global climate action projects, including compensation of greenhouse gas emissions by using rewards in cryptocurrency. Specifically, the recent MoU mainly focuses on implementing the W-Foundation’s blockchain application HOOXI, which is a blockchain-based gaming and mobile social network. Available on iOS and …

The government of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) announced plans to establish the European Blockchain Institute to research blockchain technology in a press release on May 13. According to NRW Economics Minister Andreas Pinkwart, the European Blockchain Institute will be founded in the city of Dortmund later this year, inside the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML). The press release says that critics of blockchain have voiced concern over the amount of energy consumed by mining bitcoin (BTC). Pinkwart addressed these concerns and praised the benefits of blockchain tech, saying: "This technology can be safe, decentralized, affordable …

Börse Stuttgart (SWB), the second-largest stock exchange in Germany, has listed two crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs), according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 13. Based on two major cryptocurrencies, XRP and litecoin (LTC), and issued through XBT Provider, the ETNs can now be traded against the Swedish krona (SEK) and euro (EUR) on Börse Stuttgart, Europe’s tenth-largest exchange, the announcement says. The SWB’s crypto ETNs listing purportedly allows investors to track the future price developments of XRP and LTC through exchange-traded securities, which is the first initiative of its kind in Germany, Boerse Stuttgart executive Jürgen Dietrich …

Germany plans to introduce draft regulations allowing blockchain bonds as soon as this summer, local daily business news outlet Handelsblatt reported May 9. Citing Thomas Heilmann, the ruling coalition government’s dedicated blockchain correspondent, the publication revealed the new legislation has already gained mainstream momentum, with a summary paper already in existence. According to Heilmann, it is both necessary and advantageous for Germany to embrace blockchain with supportive regulation. “We consider it to be of paramount importance that we bring blockchain technology forward for Germany, specifically in 2019,” Handelsblatt quoted him as saying. Germany has traditionally taken a conservative stance on …

German police, along with Europol, have shut down servers of a dark web marketplace and seized six figures in crypto from the arrested suspects, Europol announced on May 3. The Wall Street Market, reportedly the world’s second-largest dark web market, has been shut down by the German Federal Criminal Police under the authority of the German Public Prosecutor’s office. According to the report, German authorities arrested three suspects and seized over 550,000 euros ($615,000) in cash along with bitcoin (BTC) and monero (XMR) in six figure amounts (actual value unspecified) as well as several cars, computers, hard drives and other …

Distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based trade finance network Marco Polo has onboarded three new members for piloting and evaluating purposes, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports on April 26. Marco Polo Network is a joint undertaking with tech firm TradeIX, enterprise software company R3, and other 20 international financial institutions. The initiative provides a multi-asset class platform that offers broker dealer services, multi currency transactions, including equities, options, futures, and other related services. In an official announcement, the company revealed that it was joined by financial services provider for the Bavarian and German economies, BayernLB, one of the leading banks in the German …

Next Big Thing AG (NBT), a German Internet-of-Things (IoT) and blockchain company builder, has secured 12 million euros ($13.5 million) in a new funding round, according to a press release on April 8. NBT announced that the firm has successfully completed its Series A investment round led by global industrial insurance giant HDI Global SE through Hannover Digital Invest, with participation by the FinLab EOS VC Fund, a $100 million joint venture by fintech incubator FinLab AG and blockchain software developer Block.one. According to the press release, HDI Global decided to invest in NBT to support the combination of IoT …

New exchange-traded products (ETPs) that track the value of XRP and Litecoin (LTC) are now available for trading on the Boerse Stuttgart-owned Swedish exchange Nordic Growth Market (NGM). The news was revealed in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on April 4. Boerse Stuttgart is Germany’s second-largest stock exchange, reporting trading volumes of 71.2 billion euros in 2018. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, NGM, is an authorized exchange with operations across Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The newly-listed products are available for European investors and are issued by XBT Provider, a CoinShares company that is domiciled in Sweden and has previously brought …

Browser-based blockchain payments system Nimiq has acquired a 9.9 percent stake in Germany’s WEG Bank AG, according to an official announcement published on April 3. The stake acquisition comes as part of Nimiq’s new strategic partnership with WEG Bank AG and Swiss-Maltese decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX) Agora.Trade. The three partners are working to create a crypto-to-fiat bridge that would allow for the seamless exchange of value between crypto and traditional banking systems, the announcement states. As today’s post notes, their approach — using a decentralized exchange such as Agora.Trade as a vital component — focuses on crypto-fiat value transfers that …

Blockchain consortium R3’s trade finance platform Marco Polo has completed its first real transactions, a press release from Commerzbank, one of the participants, confirmed on March 28. Marco Polo, which is built on R3 enterprise blockchain platform Corda, successfully facilitated a trade between Germany and China, involving two German firms. Tech group Voith and pump manufacturer KSB SE were the initiators of the transactions, which constituted a pilot scheme for Marco Polo. One transaction saw couplings delivered from Germany to China, while a second was based on hydraulic pumps delivered solely within Germany. The banks facilitating the operation were German …

Germany’s second largest stock exchange Börse Stuttgart is partnering with European digital publishing titan Axel Springer and its subsidiary Finanzen.net to jointly launch a blockchain-powered trading venue. The development was announced in an official press release from Börse Stuttgart on March 27. The new initiative will aim to combine investment information services and a blockchain-powered trading venue under the canopy of one platform. To realize the project, Börse Stuttgart — which reported trading volumes of 71.2 billion euro in 2018 — is set to become the majority shareholder in a forthcoming joint venture company between the three partners. Together, Axel …