Private bank Kleinwort Hambros launched an exchange-traded note (ETN) made up of blockchain-related companies, financial news outlet Finextra reported on April 8. Kleinwort Hambros is owned by Societe Generale, acting as their private wealth management division in the United Kingdom. Societe Generale itself is a multinational investment bank headquartered in Paris, with total assets of around 1.3 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) in 2018. Per the report, the new derivative is available for a minimum investment of £1,000 (equivalent to about $1,300) and has been listed in Luxemburg. The stocks reportedly include 20 companies which are expected to profit from blockchain …

The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) will soon carry out a limited pilot to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), according to a press release on Apr. 3. The JSE has signed a master agreement with Canadian fintech firm Blockstation to continue developing tools for the trading of digital assets and security tokens. Following a successful live-trading pilot in late January 2019, the JSE and Blockstation will continue building a safe and regulated ecosystem for trading digital assets and cryptocurrencies. According to the announcement, a limited pilot to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum through the JSE and participating broker-dealers will be launched …

Decentralized financial contracts platform UMA has partnered with Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) MakerDAO to release a token tied to the United States stock market, UMA announced in a blog post on March 27. The ERC-20 token, dubbed USStocks, seeks to offer investors access to the U.S. stock market using cryptocurrency. Users can purchase the token using MakerDAO’s own USD-backed stablecoin, Dai (DAI). Decentralized cryptocurrency exchange DDEX is currently the platform of choice for onboarding potential investors. “USStocks is an ERC20 token representing synthetic ownership of an index of the 500 largest exchange-listed US stocks. This means that anybody with access …

Major Spanish stock market operator Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) has completed its first blockchain pilot for electronic certificates of collateral pledges, according to an official press release published on March 15. Implemented along with Renta 4 Banco, which is the only investment services firm listed on the BME, the new pilot intends to eliminate the use of physical certifications by digitizing all processes and providing network participants with real-time access to data. The pilot’s proof-of-concept (PoC) consisted of the release of collateral pledged by Renta 4 Banco to cover customer’s positions at BME Clearing, BME’s central counterparty. According to …

Switzerland’s largest stock exchange SIX will reportedly launch another crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) for XRP, crypto outlet The Block writes Monday, Mar. 11. Amun AG, a Swiss crypto startup that launched the world’s first listed crypto index product on SIX last November, has confirmed the information to The Block. According to the startup, the XRP ETP will soon be launched under the ticker AXRP. As of press time, SIX has not confirmed the information to Cointelegraph. Co-founder and CEO of Amun AG Hany Rashwan told another crypto media outlet, Coindesk, that the company has also received SIX’s approval to launch …

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 …

Switzerland's principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, has chosen to use blockchain consortium R3’s Corda Enterprise platform for its forthcoming blockchain-powered digital exchange. The news was revealed during the R3-hosted Corda Day event in Singapore on March 6. The SIX Swiss Exchange sees roughly 4.62 billion Swiss Francs (CHF) (~$4.6 billion) in daily turnover, and has a market capitalization of over 1.67 trillion CHF ~($1.6 trillion). As Cointelegraph reported in July 2018, SIX previously unveiled its plans to launch a digital asset ecosystem, dubbed Six Digital Exchange (SDX). In February 2019, the company announced it would be testing blockchain integration …

Estonia-based digital trading platform DX.Exchange has added tokenized Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) to its services, according to press release shared with Cointelegraph on March 6. The move involves the tokenization of popular ETFs, such as SPY, which represents the S&P 500, and QQQ, which backs the Nasdaq Composite at a 1:1 ratio. UWT (crude oil) and UDOW are among other ETFs offered on the platform. The ETFs offered can now be purchased both for cryptocurrencies and fiat during trading hours as well as after-hours. According to the press release, the introduction of tokenized ETFs on DX.Exchange complies both with the latest …

Switzerland's primary stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, has launched trading of an Ethereum (ETH)-based exchange-traded product (ETP) on March 5, according to SIX Group’s website. Amun Ethereum (AETH) ETP Listing on SIX Swiss Exchange. Source: SIX Group Backed by the Swiss startup Amun AG, the new Ethereum-based ETP will be trading under the index AETH. The management fee of Ethereum ETP will amount to 2.5 percent. SIX Group’s Ethereum ETP was first announced in November 2018, with SIX Swiss Exchange revealing that it will list five cryptocurrency-based ETPs, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum. …

Switzerland's principal stock exchange SIX Swiss Exchange will test blockchain integration for its forthcoming parallel digital trading platform SDX in the second half of this year. The news was reported by Cointelegraph Deutschland Feb. 4. SIX Swiss Exchange sees roughly 5.19 billion Swiss Francs (CHF) (~$5.18 billion) in daily turnover, and has a market capitalization of over 1.67 trillion CHF ~($1.6 trillion). CEO Jos Dijsselhof told Cointelegraph Deutschland in an interview that the company had chosen the technology for the time efficiency and improved security it can offer across all stages of stock trading and settlement: "The fact is, it …

Digital wallet Abra has introduced new features enabling global investors to invest in shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) using Bitcoin (BTC), according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 6. The United States-based firm has announced early access registration to the platform, allowing investors in more than 155 countries to invest in 50 new traditional investment assets with zero trading fees through the rest of 2019 using the leading crypto. Those assets reportedly include major stocks such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, commodities such as SPDR Gold Trust, ETFs like Vanguard Growth and the S&P 500, and …

In a transaction that has all the hallmarks of a reverse initial public offering (IPO) — also called a reverse merger — OKC Holdings Corp., which is the parent company of OKCoin and OKEx (the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume) bought a controlling share in Leap Holdings Group on Jan. 14. Leap Holdings is a construction company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), with a market cap of 978 million Hong Kong dollars ($124.7 million). OKC Holdings bought 3,182,790,001 shares at a price of HK$0.1520 ($0.019) each, for 60.49 percent of the company and voting rights. …