The German government is consulting companies and industry groups that could become stakeholders in the country’s blockchain development, Reuters reports on Feb. 18. The unnamed companies and groups have reportedly been invited to supply recommendations from this week onwards. Reuters also cites unspecified government sources saying that it is still unclear if those recommendations will translate into regulation in the near future, but concrete results are currently being sought. According to the article, about 170 startups in Berlin are involved with blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), and startups in the space “have said that without a legal framework, there …

In the German city of Klingenthal, Saxony, police have arrested a group of suspects for stealing electricity to operate a cryptocurrency mining farm, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports Feb. 6. Police officers reportedly tracked down a system of 49 computers operating in the premises of former electrical services company PGH Elektro. Since at least 2017, the mining farm has reportedly consumed as much electricity as 30 households, with the damage for the affected electricity supplier estimated to around 220,000 euros ($250,053). Per local news site FreiePresse, 30 of the 49 computers were equipped with special cryptocurrency mining hardware, with a total …

Germany’s second largest stock exchange, Boerse Stuttgart Group, has officially launched its crypto-trading app Bison, according to an official tweet today, Jan. 31. According to the app’s webpage, the software was developed by FinTech Sowa Labs — a subsidiary of Boerse Stuttgart Digital Ventures. The developers’ reported aim in making the app is to ease access to cryptocurrencies for investors that are accustomed to using traditional markets. Currently, the app enables free-of-charge trading in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP). Another subsidiary of the stock exchange, Blocknox, will act as custodian for users’ funds, using an escrow …

Merck, the world’s oldest operating pharmaceutical firm, has won a blockchain patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported Jan. 30 The German multinational has developed a system that uses a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain tech to establish the authenticity of unique physical objects. As Merck reports in a press release Jan. 30: “The new technology uses machine learning to link physical objects to a blockchain through their own unique identifiers or ‘fingerprints‘.” According the firm, the new patent describes a technology that can identify and record any unique feature of …

A top member of the Germany-based Iota (IOTA) Foundation has said the majority of the ~$11 million alleged to have been stolen in a major Iota token heist last year has been found, Reuters reported Jan. 30. As reported, the suspected perpetrator of the heist was arrested earlier this month in Oxford, U.K., following a multilateral investigation by Europol, British and German police authorities. The investigation first launched early 2018, after multiple citizens had reported stolen funds to local German police. Over 85 victims of the theft have since been identified, with the total IOTA stolen estimated to be worth …

Iran is reportedly negotiating with eight countries to carry out financial transactions in cryptocurrency, local daily newspaper Tehran Times reports on Monday, Jan. 28. According to the article, Iran has already entered negotiations with Switzerland, South Africa, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Germany and Bosnia, and the countries have reportedly visited Iran to discuss the matter. It was not immediately clear whether the news concerns the national cryptocurrency that Iran is allegedly set to launch vin the near future. However, the article notes that the talks on crypto transactions were held order to circumvent the ongoing United States sanctions …

Major global securities marketplace Deutsche Börse has reported it is “making significant progress” on its blockchain-based securities lending platform, according to an official press release on Jan. 29. The platform is being co-developed by the German securities marketplace and Luxembourg-based blockchain liquidity management platform, HQLAx. According to the press release from Deutsche Börse, six banks have to date confirmed their plans to join the securities lending platform, and have initiated “their connectivity processes.” The platform’s launch is scheduled for the the first half of 2019, while all related legal and regulatory policies are set up to to be finalized soon, …

Following international police collaboration, a 36-year-old individual suspected of the theft of over $11 million in IOTA, as well as fraud and money laundering, has been arrested on Jan. 24. Europol published a statement detailing the investigation on the day of the arrest. The suspect was reportedly arrested by United Kingdom’s South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, together with the Hessen State Police in Germany, the UK’s National Crime Agency and Europol, following a search warrant carried out in Oxford, U.K. The operation that lead to the man’s arrest — and the seizure of several of his electronic devices — …

Blockchain-based smart contracts indubitably fall subject to private international law, a legal expert has argued in a post published to Oxford University’s Business Law Blog today, Jan. 23. Giesela Rühl — a professor of Private International Law and co-director of the Centre for European Studies at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany — entitled her analysis “The Law Applicable to Smart Contracts, or Much Ado About Nothing?” As the title implies, the report argues that the presumed friction between smart contracts and established legal precedent may be over-exaggerated. Professor Rühl opened her argument with the observation that: “[T]he initial …

A group of researchers from top United States universities have announced the launch of a “globally scalable decentralized payments network,” according to a press release published today, Jan. 17. The development of the cryptocurrency, dubbed “Unit-e,” is being funded by Distributed Technologies Research (DTR) — a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, whose official launch was also announced today in the press release. DTR includes researchers from seven major U.S. universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, as Bloomberg reports. The organization reportedly received backing from blockchain investment fund Pantera Capital. According …

German railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) has partnered with blockchain integration platform Unibright to examine the possibility of tokenizing its ecosystem. A press release revealed the partnership on Tuesday, Dec. 18. DB appointed Unibright to make preparations for an internal workshop, dedicated to the possible tokenization of the company’s assets. The railway giant, which is considered to be the largest in Europe, wants to find out whether decentralized solutions can cut operational costs and help DB interact with other members of the travel industry. Unibright developed a proof-of-concept (PoC) based on the idea that blockchain could connect different areas …

Germany’s major state-owned bank KfW and Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Finance will test a blockchain application for use in public financial management, according to a statement posted Monday, Dec. 17. KfQ, ranked in 2017 as the country’s third largest bank by total assets, had also previously signed an agreement with the Burkinabe government in June 2018, providing the country with a credit of €7 million ($7.9 million) to finance water supply and sanitation areas. According to the recent blockchain-related announcement, TruBudget, an open source app developed by KfW, will be tested in Burkina Faso, Africa within the next six months …