Blockchain technology and the interest in Bitcoin is picking up momentum. A few companies such as MicroStrategy decided to exchange their liquid funds denominated in US dollars to Bitcoin. The European Union has set out its proposal to regulate crypto assets as of 2022 for the entire European Union and its 450 million citizens. Furthermore, companies like PayPal want to enhance their service offerings to crypto currencies. Initially starting in the United States, eligible users can now buy and sell Bitcoin via PayPal. Soon, Germany’s supervisory authority BaFin is expected to grant first licenses to crypto custodians, thus legitimating Bitcoin and other crypto assets for institutional investors. In this article, we highlight the leading players in the German-speaking market that meet the regulatory standards and technical requirements to “crypto-enable” financial institutions. With this article we therefore seek to answer the question how institutional investors in Germany can purchase Bitcoin. …

Institutional investors hold the majority of the world’s wealth. Their interest in digital assets is a fundamental driver of trading volume, prices, and innovation. To understand the demand for institutional-grade and blockchain-inspired investment vehicles, we presented a landmark study on over 55 registered professional investors including pension funds, insurance companies, banks, asset managers, and family offices. — Authors: Demelza Hays, Philipp Sandner, Alfred Taudes

You can download the German version (PDF, 75 pages, 9.4 MB) and the English version (PDF, 75 pages, 9.3 MB) if you are interested in the full report.

In the report, we discuss how much professional investors have already invested, how much they expect to invest over the next year, and what sectors of the industry are attracting the most investment. In juxtaposition to the demand, the report covers the supply of investment vehicles in the crypto asset space by documenting what products exist, what their assets under management are, returns and risks. This helps investors to learn about the products that are currently available and which ones are the most popular. This report can also help business development teams that are considering entering the cryptocurrency space by highlighting the gaps in product offerings. There are several products that are being demanded by institutional investors that are not currently on the market. The report also highlights how current products can improve in order to better suit institutional needs. …

Executive summary

At Frankfurt School Blockchain Center, we are hiring 3 x 50% positions starting as of January, February and March, 2021. Job position can partly be compared to a trainee/association position in a consulting company or other corporation: project management, business development, research, consulting etc.

Ideally, we are searching smart young tech-savvy people that have a finished Bachelors’ degree or a finished Masters’ degree. Preferred fields: mixture between business and computer science; or tech-savvy business people. Requirements: tech orientation, blockchain knowledge, some business development capabilities, both professional level of German and English language. Gender and age are of course irrelevant. …

“Programmable money” is, without doubt, one of the major buzzwords in the blockchain space in 2020. Even though everyone seems to talk about it, we still lack a clear definition and hence common understanding of this term. In this article, we present a taxonomy of programmable money. In particular, we argue that “programmable money” has to be differentiated from “programmable payments”. To make this distinction as clear as possible, we develop a framework in which we decompose the payments value chain into three pillars: the contract execution system, the digital payment infrastructure, and the monetary unit. …

Die Europäische Kommission hat die MiCA-Verordnung vorgestellt. Damit entsteht eine sehr weitreichende, europaweit einheitliche Regulierung aller Arten von Kryptowerten einschließlich vieler Dienstleistungen und Emissionen in diesem Bereich. Was für Startups möglicherweise herausfordernd sein kann, beinhaltet auch enorme Chancen hinsichtlich Professionalisierung und Wachstum des gesamten Krypto-Ökosystems. — Autoren: Philipp Sandner, Johannes Blassl.

English version of this article on Forbes.

Am 24. September 2020 hat die Europäische Kommission einen Entwurf einer umfassenden Regulierung von “Crypto Assets” (digitale, blockchainbasierte Vermögenswerte; auch Kryptowerte genannt) vorgestellt, die voraussichtlich Ende 2022 in Kraft treten soll. …

We have designed an 18-week long program with 3 phases that will help young women to quickly onboard to the blockchain ecosystem. Our goal is to guide the way for young women to become entrepreneurs, technologists, regulators, investors or multiplicators. This program is free of charge (EUR 0), you just have to apply. We will admit a maximum of 36 young women to this program starting on April 5, 2021.

Update: A new application deadline and a new date for starting this program (April 5, 2021) in the 2nd batch was added.

Introduction

With this program, we seek to empower young women to get into blockchain technology, become leaders in this quickly developing and build the basis for a successful career path field. Blockchain is here to change the infrastructures of finance, supply chains, trade, etc. First, implementations are conducted by large corporations and financial institutions, but also by NGOs, the UN, and others trying to be part of a changing world. Bitcoin will also stay with us for the next few years and will not fade away. It is time to onboard yourself into the blockchain ecosystem. …

Some first documents have been revealed about the new European regulation regime on crypto assets, digital assets, and stablecoins. Not too much is known so far, only some first insights and documents. According to these, the EU seeks to establish an all-encompassing regulation framework which, of course, also includes financial service providers, issuers etc. For example, the European Commission ultimately places digital/crypto assets within the existing financial market regulatory framework and ensures that services related to digital assets are regulated in a similar way to traditional assets. Also, to regulate the yet-to-launch Libra network, stablecoin projects will be significantly regulated if they are expected to have a systemic relevance. …

On July 29, 2020 the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center published a working paper that sheds light on the perception of payment initiatives by interviewing more than 50 senior experts. In this study, we analyze the impact of digital programmable Euro initiatives, such as the Libra stablecoin, and CBDCs, on banks. We find that both Libra and a Euro CBDC might heavily affect European banks. With this article, we provide a summary of the study’s research results. The PDF document can be found here. — Authors: Philipp Sandner, Jonas Gross, Philipp Schulden, Lena Grale

Introduction

Existing payment systems get more and more disrupted. As a consequence of the global trend of digitizing payments and generating new business models from the use of blockchain-based digital programmable money, several new payment initiatives have been announced recently. Besides “classical” crypto assets, also stablecoins become increasingly important. The announcement of the Facebook-initiated Libra stablecoin is mainly perceived as a game-changer for the financial sector. Today, also central banks discuss the introduction of their own digital currencies, so-called CBDCs. To date, these payment innovations are not sufficiently discussed and analyzed from the perspective of different sectors and industries, as its implications remain unclear since most initiatives have not yet been introduced. At this point, the literature does not sufficiently discuss the implications of these innovations on the financial sector. This paper sheds light on the perception of these payment initiatives by interviewing more than 50 senior experts. In this study, we analyze the impact of digital programmable Euro initiatives, such as the Libra stablecoin, and CBDCs, on banks. We find that both Libra and a Euro CBDC might heavily affect European banks. Experts fear that large-scale financial disintermediation of the financial sector could take place, and digital bank runs could be triggered. Besides these risks, our findings suggest that banks also have the opportunity to develop new business models stemming from these initiatives. Therefore, Libra and a CBDC Euro should not only be seen as threats but also as opportunities. …