Germany legalizes digitized securities

Europe’s largest economy is looking to pave the way for securities trading on the blockchain.

The German word for securities is wertpapieren, or “papers of worth,” which may soon be as outdated as nocturnal traders saying they’re burning the midnight oil.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 of its broader blockchain strategy.

While the German Finance Ministry and BaFin, its financial watchdog, are some of the most assertive in Europe, the country is at the forefront of security token adoption among major economies. Börse Stuttgart is known to be working on integrating security tokens, while BaFin has been supportive of platforms like Black Manta.