The European Central Bank, or ECB, has been investigating the possibility of launching a digital euro project within five years to complement existing central bank money. But whereas high-profile leaders such as ECB president Christine Lagarde have been largely positive about the prospect, officials from Germany's Bundesbank have remained unconvinced. In a new op-ed for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, ECB board member Fabio Panetta and fellow official Ulrich Bindseil attempted to tackle some of the Germans' misgivings head on: “The ECB is by no means planning to use a digital euro to enforce interest rates that are significantly more negative. …

Germany’s federal bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, has run successful tests on a project which bridges the traditional finance infrastructure with blockchain technology. Despite the current global rush by central banks to familiarise themselves with central bank digital currency technology, the testing carried out by the Bundesbank, in conjunction with the Deutsche Börse Group and the German Finance Agency, required the issuance of no CB, or any tokenized money at all. The system reportedly relies on two software modules which form a connection between the Bundesbank’s internal system and distributed ledger technology. Instead of creating a token-based system, the bank simply …

Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, has warned investors about the risks involved in cryptocurrency investments. In a consumer protection alert issued on its website on Friday, the regulator offered a cautionary tale about crypto involvement on the part of retail investors. As part of its statement, BaFin echoed similar admonitions espoused by several European regulators including the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Banking Authority. According to BaFin, retail investors need to be aware of the risks of incurring 100% losses from their crypto investments. While European Union lawmakers are still working toward creating an EU-wide …

Deutsche Borse’s electronic trading platform, Xetra, is preparing to launch its first Ether (ETH)-based exchange-traded products, or ETPs. According to data from Xetra, the platform is set to debut trading of two Ether ETPs — ETC Group’s Ether exchange-traded commodity, or ETC, product (ZETH) and 21Shares’ Ethereum ETP (AETH) — on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Deutsche Borse told Cointelegraph that the two products will be the first Ether ETPs to ever be listed on Xetra. Alongside AETH, Xetra will be also listing 21Shares’ Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ETP, the firm’s global head of ETP, Laurent Kssis, told Cointelegraph. “As of tomorrow …

A veteran miner has cracked open their 2010 stash of Bitcoin, with crypto analysts spotting 100 BTC being transferred from two wallets that had laid dormant for more than a decade. Prior to today’s transaction, the addresses had not seen any activity since receiving a 50 BTC Coinbase reward each nearly 11 years ago, except for two incoming transactions worth just 0.00000547 BTC each that were sent to the wallets in the last six months. The Feb. 25 transaction combined the two mining address outputs, indicating both addresses belong to the same owner. The two blocks were mined only a …

Major European Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Northern Data is reportedly considering going public in the United States. Germany-based Northern Data is planning to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering, or IPO, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The company is working with Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse to proceed with the IPO, anonymous people familiar with the matter told the publication. According to the report, the company is considering conducting a sale of new shares later in 2021, intending to boost Northern Data’s shareholder base along with its global profile. Northern Data’s shareholders include investors like Galaxy Digital …

Germany has a very diverse, active blockchain ecosystem of companies and enthusiasts, especially in the city of Berlin. And an important step in the development of this ecosystem has been taken by the federal government itself, which tries to preserve and promote the vibrant blockchain ecosystem to continue its growth and make Germany an attractive opportunity for investment in this field. Comprehensive, sound regulation To further this goal, the German government adopted a national blockchain strategy back in September 2019 to support its commitment to the use of the technology. The 44 individual measures contained therein are to be realized …

The world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, Norilsk Nickel, is pressing ahead with its digital technologies strategy. As of Jan. 18, Nornickel's Global Palladium Fund has launched exchange-traded commodities, or ETCs, for metals on the Deutsche Börse, which are custodied by TokenTrust AG and also make use of its distributed ledger platform, Atomyze. Nornickel's Global Palladium Fund intends to launch the ETCs on the London Stock Exchange "within a few days." An ETC, which is an instrument that is tradable like a stock or share, offers traders and investors exposure to an underlying commodity — in this case, …

Vonovia, a major European real estate group, has issued a 20 million euro ($24 million) bond using the Stellar blockchain. According to a Jan. 13 announcement, Vonovia has deployed the Stellar blockchain to issue security tokens for the transfer of real estate rights. The tokens were issued through an online marketplace called firstwire. Vonovia said that the blockchain-powered bond has a total term of three years. Helene von Roeder, chief financial officer at Vonovia, said that blockchain-powered bond digitization enabled the company to finance themselves “faster, easier and cheaper.” “Issues are transparent and traceable in real time, which guarantees a …

Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, the heightened need for various biosurveillance measures sparked interest in the relevance of privacy-enhancing technologies such as blockchain that could protect public health data amid the crisis. A Twitter user claimed last week that Frankfurt Airport's coronavirus testing center appeared to be using Iota blockchain technology to manage passengers' health stats, and this fact has now been confirmed to Cointelegraph by the technology provider. Ubirch, a blockchain-based cybersecurity technology provider based in Cologne and several other locations, has developed the IT infrastructure for a solution it calls the "Digital Corona Test Certificate." The solution …

2020 has been a stellar year for the crypto economy, with more enterprises and institutions than ever before implementing the technology. Big announcements, such as PayPal’s decision to enable its users to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), have understandably dominated the headlines. However, pivotal regulatory developments across the globe have largely flown under the radar and arguably present even greater significance for crypto in the long term. Related: Will PayPal’s crypto integration bring crypto to the masses? Experts answer The importance of clear regulatory frameworks cannot be overstated, with patchy and insufficient legislation offering a major barrier to enterprises looking …

The German word for securities is wertpapieren, or "papers of worth," which may soon be as outdated as nocturnal traders saying they're burning the midnight oil. Per a Reuters report from Wednesday, Merkel's cabinet had passed a new law that will end the requirement to have a paper certificate for sale of a security, overtly looking to advance blockchain trading within the country. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholtz reportedly said, “The paper certificate may be dear to some for nostalgic reasons, but the future belongs to its electronic version.” The Finance Ministry called the shift to all-electronic securities a component …