Germany

Crypto’s rising popularity in Germany

• Coindesk: Proposed Legislation in Germany Could Allow $425B to Flow Into Crypto – April 2021
  A new German law could theoretically bring as much as €350 billion (~$425 billion) of institutional investment into the cryptocurrency market, financial newspaper Boersen Zeitung reported.
  
  
• CoinJournal: Germany allows institutional funds to invest in cryptos – April 2021
  Germany has passed a new law that would allow thousands of institutional investment funds to invest in cryptocurrency A new law in Germany now permits over 4,000 institutional investment funds to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies. The move could spark massive cryptocurrency adoption in Europe’s largest economy over the next few months or years. The new legislation permits wealth and institutional investment fund managers (called Spezialfonds) to invest as much as 20% of their portfolio in cryptocurrencies. The law is set to come into effect on 1 July.
  
  
• Forbes: The World’s Youngest Billionaires 2021 Include A Teenager From Germany – April 2021
  Austin Russell spent his teens doing research at the University of California at Irvine’s Beckman Laser Institute. The lanky 6-foot-4 entrepreneur dropped out of Stanford in 2012 to found laser lidar (an acronym for light, detection and ranging) startup Luminar Technologies after getting a $100,000 fellowship from billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. Its sensors now help self-driving cars of such customers as Volvo, Toyota and Intel’s Mobileye see in 3D. The company listed via a SPAC merger in December 2020, catapulting him into the billionaire ranks overnight. At age 26, he is the world’s youngest self-made billionaire now that Kylie Jenner, 23, has fallen from the ranks.
  
  
• Cointelegraph: Germany’s blockchain initiative: How adoption became a reality in 2020 – March 2021
  Germany has a very diverse, active blockchain ecosystem of companies and enthusiasts, especially in the city of Berlin. And an important step in the development of this ecosystem has been taken by the federal government itself, which tries to preserve and promote the vibrant blockchain ecosystem to continue its growth and make Germany an attractive opportunity for investment in this field.
  
  
• Cointelegraph: German real estate group issues $24M bond using Stellar blockchain – January 2021
  Vonovia, a major European real estate group, has issued a 20 million euro ($24 million) bond using the Stellar blockchain. According to a Jan. 13 announcement, Vonovia has deployed the Stellar blockchain to issue security tokens for the transfer of real estate rights. The tokens were issued through an online marketplace called firstwire. Vonovia said that the blockchain-powered bond has a total term of three years.