Central Bank of Germany Reveals Functional Securities Blockchain

German central bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, which is also the most influential member of the European System of Central Banks ESCB due to its strength and former size, announced the unveiling of a functional prototype of a Blockchain technology-based settlement of securities. Jointly presented with Deutsche Börse, the marketplace for the trading of shares and other securities, the prototype is the first result of a collaborative research project between the two institutions that is based on a conceptual study and not market-ready. Designed to provide the technical functionality for the....

The German government has passed new legislation to introduce all-electronic securities as part of the country’s wider blockchain strategy. According to the country’s finance ministry, the new law relaxes rules forcing issuers and holders of securities to document transactions with a paper certificate. Legal Clarity According to a report, the paper certificate can now be “replaced with an entry in a central securities depository or a register kept by private-sector banks.” The report also speculates that this means “an entry in a crypto securities register....

A new report reveals that more than 300 banks in Germany are now charging some customers negative interest rates. Some are big global banks, including Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and ING. 300 Banks Pass on the Burden of Negative Interest Rates to Customers Banks in Germany have been increasingly passing on the burden of negative interest rates to their clients after the European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a negative interest rate policy. After lowering one of its key interest rates into negative territory in June 2014, the ECB then lowered the deposit facility rate incrementally until it....

Another financial authority is coming forth in what is becoming a long list of central banks to issue warnings on the use of the bitcoin digital currency. This time around it's the Deutsche Bundesbank, which as previously mentioned, is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany. Carl-Ludwig Thiele, one of the bank's board members, warns that bitcoin is highly speculative and extremely volatile. Both are sentiments that have been echoed by other central banks who have already issued warnings. Thiele reportedly says bitcoin is a "niche phenomenon", despite its explosion into the....

For Germany’s central bank, blockchain has proven to be a promising – if not somewhat complicated – technology. In late November, the Deutsche Bundesbank announced that it was working with exchange operator Deutsche Börse on a securities trading trial, using blockchain as a means of exchanging digitized securities, while also creating a record of those transactions. At the time, the central bank described the test as "purely a conceptual study". New comments from Bundesbank executive board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele have shined a light on some of the results from that test. Thiele....