Germany Proposes Launching State-Run Electronic Register for Blockchain Sector

Germany’s justice and finance ministries have proposed to launch a state-run register to boost the use of blockchain, Reuters reports on Friday, March 8.

According to the Reuters, the seven-page initial guidelines offer to create a register to regulate the sector and protect investors from possible abuses. The document reportedly states that regulation in the sphere could contribute to the development of the technology behind cryptocurrencies, along with enhancing Germany’s position in financial markets.

The guidelines also propose easing existing requirements, which assume that financial instruments must have tangible counterparts that can be purchased by investors.

Reuters claims that current proposals are only related to electronic bonds, while digital stocks might be added later.

The chief executive body of the German government, the Cabinet of Germany, has recently announced that the country will introduce its blockchain strategy by mid-2019. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy were cited as responsible for preparing the guidelines, with the expectation that other relevant ministries will contribute at a later time.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, the two ministries started discussing the proposals with industry members in mid-February. One of the key questions to be solved relates to the legal protection of those who purchase blockchain-based digital bonds. One of the possible ways to tackle the problem is to allow their purchase to institutional investors only, the ministries stated.

Earlier this year, Germany’s second largest stock exchange, Boerse Stuttgart Group, officially launched its crypto-trading app Bison, which enables free-of-charge trading in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP). Currently the app is only available for German users. However, by late 2019 the exchange plans to extend its services to all EU countries.