German Stock Exchange Eyes Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

Frankfurt Stock Exchange parent company, Deutsche Boerse AG, appears to have begun work on technology that will allow them to offer their clients bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related products.

In December 2017, regulators in the U.S. greenlit bitcoin futures trading for the CME Group and CBOE Futures Exchange, but since then, no major European exchange has jumped in. Speaking at an industry event in London on May 23, 2018, Jeffrey Tessler, head of clients, products and core markets for Deutsche Boerse, said they are considering offering cryptocurrency products: "We are deep at work with it."

Tessler is quoted in Bloomberg confirming that Deutsche Boerse is “not at the same stage” as CME and that they want to make sure that they understand the underlying transaction “which isn’t the easiest thing to do.”

Two months ago, Deutsche Boerse announced a plan to work with the financial management firm HQLAX and R3’s Corda blockchain platform to implement a system that can offer more efficient securities settlement via a blockchain. HQLAX and R3 already have a solution for securities lending with a number of large banks, such as ING and Credit Suisse.

Tessler added, “Before moving forwards with anything like bitcoin, we want to understand the volatility and make sure clients are in line and make sure regulators are in line.”