European Central Bank Explorations
One of Europe’s leading exchanges, Boerse Stuttgart Group (BSG), recently announced the successful completion of experiments testing the settlement of exchange transactions with blockchain-based securities against central bank money. The tests, conducted as part of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) explorations, reportedly reduced transaction settlement time from two days to a few minutes.
In a statement issued on Oct. 1, BSG said the successful test demonstrates significant progress in developing a digital capital market. German banking giants including Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank were among the six financial institutions that participated in the experiment.
Besides reducing settlement time to a few minutes, the tests showed that settlement processes can be “mapped automatically, step by step, and directly between trading participants.” Commenting on the milestone, Matthias Voelkel, CEO of Boerse Stuttgart Group, said:
“ Blockchain technology is a game changer for the digitalization of the European capital
market. We at Boerse Stuttgart Group are pioneers in this field. With the successful
completion of the ECB blockchain tests, we have taken an important step in the EU. In
Switzerland, our exchange for tokenized securities BX Digital is set to launch in 2024.
It will use our self-developed, innovative, blockchain-based settlement solution.”
Meanwhile, the exchange group detailed the results of the experiment, claiming that their tests gained insights not only from a single transaction but also from various test cases and different setups. Additionally, settlement processes were reportedly conducted under both normal and exceptional conditions.
According to the statement, the European exchange group’s broker, EUWAX AG, and its crypto custodian, Boerse Stuttgart Digital Custody, participated in the ECB tests.
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