1 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT Digital Assets2021 Institutional Adoptionof Bitbond July 2021 Research Report

Foreword

Capital markets and financial services are currently going through an unprecedented level of change. While fintech companies have been reshaping consumer finance for several years, more recently, this force for change has also arrived in the institutional finance world. 3 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT participants. participants. activities andadoptionby banks andotherinstitutionalmarket providesThis report a comprehensive overview ofdigitalasset ofthetotal value ofdigitalassets. will beasmallerpart but Once thathappens, willremain important medium to long-term,allfinancialassets willbe tokenized. is agrowing consensusintheinstitutionalmarkets thatinthe rates to have issuetokenized started debtandequity. There reduced costs, and near-zero settlement risk, banks and corpo In order to take advantage ofunseensettlementefficiency, assets are role. playing anincreasingly important ofthisgrowth, digital / significant portion tokenized financial assets isstunning.Andalthoughcryptocurrencies drive a (around USD200trillioncombined),thegrowth ofdigital to thetotal value ofglobalpublicmarket equitiesandbonds While theabsolutevalue may seeminsignificantcompared around USD1.4trillion—afivefold increase over one year. publication, thetotal market capitalization ofdigitalassetsis , anddecentralized finance(DeFi). At thetimeof behinddistributedledgertechnology(DLT),opportunities ingly turningto digitalassetsto take advantage ofthevast ofthisdevelopment, financialinstitutionsareAs part increas regulatory changes. competitive advantage, fightdecreasing margins, oradapt to becoming increasingly driven by technology. Eitherto gaina investors, are familyoffices,andothermarket participants Corporate andinvestment banks,assetmanagers,institutional Foreword

- - have beenpossible. their insightswithus. numerous financial institutions whowere soopen to sharing We wouldequallylike to thankallcontributors atthe banking analyst Felix Stremmer andHenriFalque-Pierrotin, aswellsenior the statusquo.Specialthanksgoto Bitbondcrew members into thisresearch piecethatittakes to create afullpicture of We thanktheentire Bitbondteamforputtingthehard work already here today. of digitalassetsisnotafuture promise butareality thatis as weare when discovering thattheinstitutionaladoption We hopeyou enjoy reading itandthatyou willbeasexcited Sam Theodore Without your input, this report wouldnot Withoutyour input,thisreport Radoslav Albrecht Founder &CEO forwritingtheintroduction. Felix Stremmer COO 4 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT Commercial BankInitiatives Introduction Table ofContents Foreword Table ofContents ells Fargo — USA d Chartered — UK view eisen BankInternational(RBI) — Austria gan — USA view uropean Investment Bank(EIB) — Luxembourg view edit Suisse — Switzerland aribas — France Y Mellon — USA VA — Switzerland W UBS — Switz State Str Standar Société Génér Santander — Spain Inter Raiff – Germany Landesbank Baden-W JP Mor Inter HSBC — UK E Deutsche Bank — Germany Inter DekaBank — Germany DBS — Singapor Cr Commerzbank — Germany BN BNP P BB ABN AMRO — Netherlands

eet — USA

erland ale — France

e

ürttemberg (LBBW) (LBBW) ürttemberg

11 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 5 4 2 Address /Imprint Sources About Bitbond e.Trade — Germany ersal-Investment Group — Germany view view e — Germany view andCollaborations Exchanges, Platforms arburg &CO — Germany view view Private BankInitiatives W Univ Spunta — Italy Fnality — UK Inter Finledger — Germany Inter firstwir Börse Stuttgar Inter Solarisbank — Germany M.M. W Maerki Baumann&Co — Switz Julius Baer — Switz Hauck &A Inter futurum bank — Germany Inter Bankhaus v Bankhaus Scheich — Germany

ufhäuser — Germany

on derHeydt — Germany

t DigitalExchange — German erland

erland

57 53 45 35 54 52 52 51 51 50 49 48 47 46 44 43 42 42 41 41 40 39 38 37 36

Introduction

EUR

SAM THEODORE

With over 35 years of experience analyzing and communicating views about and interacting with banks He held managing director positions at Moody‘s (seventeen years), at Scope (seven years), and worked for three years at and other financial institutions, Sam Theodore has DBRS as analytical head of financial institutions ratings for agreed to write this introduction on the adoption of digital Europe. Sam also worked six years as a senior bank regulator assets by financial institutions. (EBA, UK FSA). 6 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT opportunity. banks, manyof whichviewitasanew marginal formostEuropean incumbent fintech/neobank challenge remains more oftheworld. The dynamics inotherparts banks’ to lose,whichmay differ from the the fintechorbigtech’s to win;it is the sion. The European financialsector isnot This, however, wouldbethewrong conclu- will beincreasingly difficult to regain. the formerisgradually losingground, which race betweenincumbentbanksand fintech, technologies.Manysay that,inthe cial intelligence,and,increasingly, distributed big datamanagement,openplatforms,artifi mize operations by usingcloudtechnology, changing customer expectations,andopti to copewith higher transaction speeds, meet to adjust to the digital age significant efforts The European hasmade bankingindustry branch. a website.Nottemple-like high-street conjures upanicononaphonescreen or digital age,theimageofabankmostly banks’ capacityto copewiththem.Inthe nology have beenmoving faster thanmany transformational advances indigitaltech It isnotloomingsomewhere inthedistance: the European financialsector … Banks willcontinueto dominate Introduction - - - neobank, with over 33 million customers. Brazil-based Nubank is the world’s largest A similarsituation exists in Latin America: than abankaccount). having asmartphone unbanked population (manymore people products, have been adopted by alargely payments and then adding more financial like Kenya-based with mobile M-Pesa, starting ofAfrica,where large fintechs case in parts households and SMEs. It has also beenthe wealth management, loans, and insurance to large cities) have been offering savings, with ca. one billion active users,mostly in fintech giantsAlipay and WeChatPay (each This hasbeenthe case in China, where the economy asdeveloped markets. have notplayed thesamecentral role inthe in emerging markets, where traditional banks inclusion. These have beenpresent primarily been related to (i)payments and(ii)financial the key twodrivers forfintechgrowth have advances openingnewavenues forfinance, Against thebackdrop offastdigital to do. Which issomethingnotallbankswillbeable cultures, systems,andcoststructures. can speedilyadjusttheirbusinessmodels, Under therightconditions,ofcourse,banks (Germany iscoming second). neobanks and fintech are UK-based this time,more thanathird ofEuropean Amsterdam, Paris, orStockholm. At nology, especiallyinLondon,Berlin, ground forthegrowth offinancial tech To besure, Europe isbecomingavibrant are mostlyinthedriver’s seat. Europe, butthere, also, itisthebanksthat does remain more ofachallengeinEastern of financialinclusionislessanissue.It 100 % inWestern Europe. Therefore, lack banked high—notfarfrom populationisvery 30 %). Importantly, ofthe theproportion (ca.80 %vs.ca. their UScounterparts of loansandsavings intermediationthan banks alsoholdafarlarger market share unlike manydeveloping markets. European goes mainlythrough thebankingsystem, However, inEurope, thepayment system trusting banks. money to keep inthebankand(ii)not a bankaccountare (i)nothaving enough two mainreasons forhouseholdsnothaving or under-banked. According to theFDIC, ofhouseholdsare eitherunbanked quarter This isalsothecaseinUS,where ca.a

- 7 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT much larger extentinthe digitalspace. financial andsocial needshave moved to a Individuals’ and businesses’economic, the pandemic, it isnotsothesedays. assumed. Ifthiswasmore plausiblebefore is changingfarmore slowlythanusually that technology-inducedcustomer behavior Too manybanksacross Europe rationalize end users,nottheintermediary. diaries, whilethenewdigitalworldfavors Banks remain establishedfinancialinterme technologies adopt decentralizing financial … Butonlythosewhocan call. it willstay thatway isultimatelythebanks’ the incumbentbankingindustry. Whether European market issolidly inthehandsof This againwouldprove that,atpresent, the ness beyond theconfinesof Europe. like Revolut orN26aimto broaden theirbusi Seeking to becomeprofitable, larger players from fullcredibility to theirbusinessmodel. not yet proven, whichto anextentdetracts But profitability formostofthese players is Introduction

- - distribution channels,products, and investments indigitalcapacity—platforms, andviability.assessing theirworth Massive emerge asacentral consideration in tioned ontheroad to digitalizationmay More to thepointwhere banksare posi progress alongthatpath. by -players. Provided they make good without beingdisruptedalongthatpath where they needto beinthedigitalspace scale, standabetterchanceofgoing capacity forIT investments onamaterial the more prominent groups withahigher blamed astroublemakers. Banks,especially economies they operate in,rather thanbeing the being countedonto actively support turnaround from theGFC — asthey are improved theirpublicimage — avisible For banks,thepandemic’s silver lininghas space. after thepandemicendsinfinancial thatashiftbackwilloccur It isnotcertain industry is still short of state-of-the-art ofstate-of-the-art isstillshort industry Importantly, balancing theEuropean banking intelligence. open APIs,and artificial security systems,cloudstorage, blockchain, processes—are needed speedily:cyber ­ - (which, again, inEurope are mostlybanks). through regulated financialintermediaries money — deposits, loans, andtransfers not shake thesolid foundationoffiat rencies — , Ether, Ripple,etc. — will Blockchain-distributed private cryptocur ently linked. finance separately, althoughthey are inher contracts/decentralizedrencies andsmart challenge, weneedto lookatcryptocur To assessEuropean banks‘digitalassets tokenized non-crypto items. necessarily crypto assets,asthey include think ofcrypto. Butnotalldigitalassetsare many banksandothermarket participants When tacklingthetopic ofdigitalassets, forbanks? opportunity Digital assets:athreat oran their reach soon. banking in the digital age may become out of ioned businessmodels.For someofthem, many second-tierbankswithmore old-fash for thedigitalageischallenging,mostly Acquiring appropriate intellectualcapital orsufficientscaleintheseareas. expertise - - - - 8 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT alone push asidecentral-bank . tocurrencies will notcompeteagainst,let stream beyond- crypto enthusiasts,cryp As muchasthey willbecome more main continues to bepursued. have turnedincreasingly elusive, althoughit This suggeststhattheinitialproject may provider ofcentral-bank digital currencies. now beforDiemto becomeawhite-label may A rumored planof theconsortium referenced by high-qualityassets. renamed ),aprivate digitalcurrency two years ago,to establish Libra (recently announcednearly Facebook-led consortium, tors poured coldwaterontheattemptby a transactional role. Governments andregula- cryptocurrencies willatbestplay amarginal isstillthecase — for themostpart banks refuse to standbehindthem — which But aslonggovernments andcentral booking tripsthrough Expedia. purchases like Tesla to carsandNFT art accepting Bitcoinaspayment, from swanky businesses intheUSandelsewhere are now um-of-exchange function — althoughmore investment products); muchlessamedi value function(astrading, speculative, and At thistime,they have mainlyastore-of-

- - the implementation of CBDConalarge scale against banks and otherintermediaries).But claim againstthe central bank(rather than businesses, which wouldthushave adirect al-purpose (retail) CBDC forindividualsand bank digitalcurrency (CBDC). Notably, gener- looking atthefeasibility ofissuingcentral including thoseindeveloped markets, are majority oftheworld’s central banks, A recent BISsurvey revealed thatavast initiatives. implementing theirowndigitalcurrency in various stagesofinvestigating oreven both developed andemerging markets are This isespeciallysoascentral banksin project forafew years. the government has secretly worked onthis being launched inafew citiesinthe country; advanced stage,withadigitalyuanalready a coupleofmonths.Chinaisin amore the MIT — with a firstfindingexpectedin project onadigitaldollartogether with the Boston aresearch Fed isundertaking pose digitalpoundsandeuros. IntheUS, ofgeneral-purintending to- seethebirth pursuing digitalcurrency investigations, The BankofEnglandandtheECBare many cases. andsomeyears away in is stilluncertain 9 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT tives, etc.). exchanges, sales,lending, insurance, deriva- transactions using crypto tokens (payments, distributed ledgersandrelated to financial decentralized applicationsbuiltontop of increasingly popularintheUS — includes (DeFi) — aterm source ofcore revenues forbanks. So-called as banks.Andthus,intime,threatening a transactions, bypassing intermediariessuch take holdofpeer-to-peer (P2P)financial contractsthe extentto may whichsmart asweknowitis of thebankingindustry What couldraise questionsaboutthefuture blockchain network. enforced by themajorityconsensusof are met,theagreement isautomatically When thepre-defined rulesofthecontract know ortrusteachother. over theinternetwhodonot participants legal complianceandcontrols — between ments — structured assoftware withbuilt-in contracts areSmart self-enforcing agree- open digitalecosystemslike . by apermissionlessdistributedledgerin contracts,development processed ofsmart byBanks shouldfeel the more discomforted Introduction So, the means ofexchange donotchange, cryptocurrencies andnotclassicfiatmoney. such asthebanks. Notnecessarilyby using remains forP2Pto bypass intermediaries number ofinstances. Therefore, thethreat cies. This isalready thecaseinagrowing and transactions notbasedoncryptocurren- increasingly usedforfinancialagreements on permissionlessblockchains may be contracts challenge isforbanks,smart Having saidthat,andthisiswhere themain make ithard to implementacross Europe. are regulatory barriersthat,asshownbelow, transactions. Third, andperhaps crucially, marginal compared to mainstream financial of thetechnology–,itshouldremain system — which is,infact,theraison d’être out solelyoutsideofthefiat-money Second, to theextentthatitwillbecarried DeFi). of in crypto assetsisipso facto notpart oftechnoenthusiasts (merelygory investing individuals beyond arelatively narrow cate- adopted onalarge scaleby businessesand and willkeep improving, itisunlikely to be First, althoughtheDeFienvironment exists form inaEuropean contextisdoubtful. However, theviabilityofDeFiinitscurrent transformation. as thisisonlyoneelementof thedigital will finditdifficult tocompete.Especially smaller andlesssophisticated banks cable to it — isadoptedona broader scale, a by-product ofcryptonotuniquelyappli As distributedledgertechnology — using blockchain technology. The lattertwohave already issuedbonds Santander, and Société Générale as advisors. through blockchain, usingGoldmanSachs, it ispreparing theissuance ofanewbond European Investment Bankannouncedthat debt issuance.Earlierthismonth,the increasing within thesegroups. Including aware ofthis,andtheuseblockchain is levels oftechnical sophistication,are well Larger banks, especiallythosereaching high map butrather asathreat to core revenues. much where they riskbeingtaken offthe for somefinancialintermediaries.Notso and wideracceptancebecomeareal threat improvements technology insmart-contract needed. now,This threat ismore virtual but but thefee-seeking isnolonger intermediary

- 10 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT o afiatcurrency) 3. oposed Diem) eferenced tokens (including 2. 1. crypto-assets (tokens): MiCA willapplyto three categories of customers, andpreserving financialstability. innovation, protectingsupporting the key objectives: providing legalcertainty, Overall, crypto regulation aimsatfour assets, includingpreventing market abuse. issuance, offering, andmarketing ofcrypto MiCA introduces requirements related to the asset class. supersede all national regimes related to this Crypto AssetsRegulation(MiCA),whichwill proposed regulation onCAs,theMarkets in Package, adoptedlastSeptember, includesa The European Commission’s Digital Financial should helpdigital-savvy banks EUregulations Forthcoming Introduction

categor Other cr t means ofex E-mone the pr Asset-r y tokens (to beusedasa y includingBitcoin) ypto assets(acatch-all change andpegged

classified as “significant” — meaning alarge ities. To theextentthattheseassetsare comply withMiCA. away smallplayers withoutthe resources to issuance) and capital size, whichcouldkeep (publication ofadetailedwhite paperbefore also requirements forCASPson disclosure identifiable issuer. Inaddition, there are which issuanceisdecentralized, withno for theEuropean development ofDeFi,in legal entitieswillbeasignificant hurdle The obligationunderMiCAthatCASPsbe re-assessments. vised directly by theEBA,withannual € 1billion — CASPswillbesuper actions, oramarket capexceeding customer base,ahighnumberoftrans by competent national author supervised providers (CASP),to beauthorized and by legalentitiescalledcrypto assetservice will have to beissuedandmanagedsolely Importantly, across theEU,crypto assets etc.), notcovered by MiCA. rity tokens, e-money, structured deposits, financial instrumentorequivalent (e.g.,secu cover anycrypto assetthatconstitutesa Existing financialmarket regulations would -

­ - - optional. that wishto anddowell,thisisnot survive like adistributedledger. For thosebanks usingnewtechnologies adopting andstart EU banksto get even more committedto tant-future are strong arguments forall of CBDCbeingutilized inthenot-too-dis- Digital FinancialPackage andthelikelihood regulations includedintheECsproposed To crypto conclude,boththeforthcoming To conclude… EU. and transact crypto assetsacross theentire caneven nowissue,market,passporting, inherent advantage to banks,whichthrough rate CASPauthorization. This provides an Directive (CRD),itwillnotrequire asepa authorized undertheCapitalRequirements If theCASPisacredit institutionalready SAM THEODORE - Commercial Bank Initiatives 12 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT errors, andlessrisk. her andsafer withlowercosts,fewer settlement ofdigitaltransactions smoot Technology makes the chain technology. technology companythatdevelops block Digital AssetHoldings(DAH), anAmerican ABN AMROamongothersisaninvestor in focus ineverything wedo.” more efficiently, ourclientsare thecentral helping internationalfinancialmarkets run developing newproducts or andservices ecosystem. Whetherwe’re talkingabout key role ininnovations inthefinancial “believe thatnewtechnologywillplay a On theirwebsite,itisstatedthatthey: bank intheNetherlands. ters inAmsterdam. Itisthethird-largest ABN AMROisaDutchbankwithheadquar OVERVIEW OVERVIEW 1. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

ABN AMRO — - - - Netherlands moving forward. other technologiesto assistthefinancialmarkets in design andmanufacture innovative blockchain and 75 financial institutions. aims to Thispartnership innovation group. R3isaglobalgroup ofmore than At theendof2016,ABNAMROjoined theR3financial training, andactivitiesinadditionto technologies. transactions. The LinuxFoundation provides resources, recording, tracking, andauthorizationofdigitalfinancial The technologywillallowforthesecure andefficient of emerging technologiesby creating ecosystems. aims to promote theproduction andcommercialization Project, runby theLinuxFoundation. The Foundation ABN AMROisafoundingmemberoftheHyperledger SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BLOCKCHAIN & OTHER TECH INNOVATION ›LIVE R3 ›FOUNDATION ›ECOSYSTEM ›EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ›LIVE Linux Foundation HyperledgerProject the University‘s Blockchain Lab. users. ABN AMRO employees are also taking classes at ging large amountsof(dummy)dataandmultiple such asnext-generation technologyefficientlymana ersity researched blockchain applications. The TU Delft research focusesonrealistic applications, uni was knownas“distributed accountingsystems,” the chain applications.Since2007,whenthediscipline (TU Delft) collaborate onadvancing complexblock ABN AMROandDelftUniversity of Technology TU Delft ›PARTNERSHIP ›BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT ›LIVE ­v - - 13 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT or pieceofinformationare exchanged. impact howmoney andanyvaluable asset just afirststepinanarea thatwilldirectly Solutions Strategy atBBVA, is thisservice According HeadofClient to AliciaPertusa, mark achievement forBBVA. Switzerland inDecember 2020wasaland assets transaction andcustody in service jects andpilots. The launchofitsdigital out numerous blockchain research pro- Over thepastfive years, BBVA hascarried was foundedin1857. companythat is aglobalfinancialservices Banco BilbaoVizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) OVERVIEW VA 2. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

BB — Switzerland - with ourpursuitof excellence incustomer service”. streamline thenegotiationtimeframes, whichisin line transaction allowedusto simplifytheprocesses and Using DLT — distributed ledgertechnology — forthis to bothsustainable financingandnewtechnologies. “With thisdeal,BBVA itsfirmcommitment reasserts Juan Garat, BBVA’s HeadofGlobalSales,noted: swap rate ofaprivate placement. evolution aspart lion inasix-year termbondtiedto thefive-year euro investedthe termsandconditions.MAPFRE € 35 mil Group, whichusedblockchain technologyto negotiate The firststructured green bondwasissued by BBVA currently provide digitalassetmanagementservices. enterprises, andindividualcustomers, several banks and adoptionsofdigitalassets.For institutionalclients, advanced European countriesregarding regulations panies inblockchain technologyasoneofthemost safeguard digitalassets.Switzerland hasmanycom progressively to launchinganewservice trade and 2021,BBVA’sSince January Switzerland unithasbeen SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›STRUCTURED GREEN BOND ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE. tured (Feb green 2019) bondforMAPFRE BBVA struc issuesthefirstblockchain-supported ›CUSTODY ›INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS ›LIVE of bitcoininSwitzerland (Dec2020) First commercial solutionforthetrading andcustody - - - 14 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT exchanged usingblockchain technology. marketable by portraying themastokens and make theseassetsmore readily private credit. BNPPAM canfractionalize infrastructure debtandothertypesof to invest inpreviously illiquidassetslike The firststepis to buildupmutualfunds Pacific. “We see tokenization intwoways”. strategy andheadofdigitalforAsia Pecenicic, newlyappointedhead ofdigital new businessmodels,says Emmanuelle to improve distributionandestablish on tokenization andblockchain inorder menting withnewbusinessmodelsbased Asset Management(BNPPAM) isexperi Regarding digitalassets,BNPParibas seventh largest bank. king group. Bytotal assets,itistheworld‘s BNP Paribas isaFrench internationalban OVERVIEW aribas — 3. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

BNP P - - France trading andsettlementinnovations.” contract technologythatunderpinsthe latestclearing, canfullycapitaliseonthe smart market participants role toBNP Paribas play hasanimportant inensuring clearingsolutionsinAsiaPacific,tody andthird-party said:“AsSecurities Services, aleadingprovider ofcus- Line &Digital Transformation APAC forBNPParibas Luc Renard, HeadofFinancialIntermediaries Client access to real-time workflows. mented willbeableto usetheapps,givingthem Clients inmarkets where DLT hasnotyet beenimple Exchange (ASX)andHongKong Exchange (HKEX). and settlementsystemsoftheAustralian Securities real-time accessto theupcomingDLT-based trading The newappswillgive market players inAsiaPacific contracts. time trade andsettlementappsbasedonDAML smart to developlaunched anewpartnership arange ofreal- andDigitalAssethaveBNP Paribas SecuritiesServices SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›APP ›TRADING & SETTLEMENT ›DIGITAL ASSETS ›ONGOING (Sep 2020) teamed upto create DLT trade andsettlementapps andDigitalAsset, BNP Paribas SecuritiesServices - assets.” that combinesbothtraditional andregulated digital our strategy to deliver anintegrated custody solution representscept withCurv asignificantstepforward in said:“ThisproofParibas SecuritiesServices, ofcon Intermediaries andCorporates ClientLineatBNP Bruno Campenon,GlobalHeadofFinancial chain swiftly, safely, andtransparently. tokenized securitiesmay betransferred ontheblock This successfulproof ofconceptdemonstrated that token usingCurv‘s computationtechnology. multi-party transferred andCurv Securities Services asecurity To ensure thesecurityofprivate keys, BNPParibas security infrastructure forfinancialinstitutions. in collaboration withCurv, acloud-baseddigital asset rely transfer securitytokens betweenmarket players, successful completionofaproof ofconceptto secu- hasannouncedthe BNP Paribas SecuritiesServices (Jul 2020) in completingaPoC to transfer securitytokens announcedasuccess BNP Paribas andCurv ›POC SECURITY TOKENS ›PARTNERSHIP ›COMPLETED

- - 15 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT of solutionsandcapabilities. rencies, by accelerating thedevelopment gence ofdigitalassets,suchascryptocur and evolving needs connectedto theemer The unitissetto helpclientshandlerising announced. of anewenterpriseDigitalAssetsunitwas digitization. InFebruary 2021thelaunch to long-termstructural resiliency and BNY Mellonmadeafirmcommitment holding company. an Americaninvestment bankingservices Bank ofNewYork MellonCorporation is OVERVIEW Y Mellon — 4. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

BN - - USA currency isbecomingmore widelyaccepted. bitcoin market, indicatingthattheonce-illegaldigital stream.” The country‘s oldestbankhasjoinedthe ofthemain said, “Digitalassetsare becomingpart vicing anddigitalbusinessesledby RomanRegelman its asset-managementclients.BNY Mellon‘s asset-ser issue bitcoinandothercryptocurrencies onbehalfof The custody banksaiditwouldstore, transfer, and SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›ASSET-MANAGEMENT CLIENTS ›ONGOING ›CUSTODY › asset (Feb 2021) BNY Mellonto treat digitalcurrencies like anyother

- - improve custody andotherinvestment services. the technologybehinddigitalassets, BNY Mellonwill leveraging advanced solutionssuchasblockchain, tap into thebestavailable solutionsinthemarket.“ By to speedupproduct development andhelpourclients ding technologiesfrom fintechandothercollaborators unit willleverage BNY Mellon‘s andlea digitalexpertise “Consistent withouropen-architecture approach, the Solutions atBNY Mellon. digital assets,” saidMike Demissie,headofAdvanced infrastructure fortransferring, safekeeping, andissuing “The DigitalAssetsunitplansto deliver asecure of solutionsandcapabilities. such ascryptocurrencies, by accelerating thecreation emerging needsrelated to thegrowth ofdigitalassets, Assets unitthatwillhelpclientsaddress risingand BNY Mellonplansto establishanewenterpriseDigital (Feb 2021) Industry‘s FirstMulti-AssetDigitalPlatform BNY MellonForms NewDigitalAssetsUnitto Build ›IN DEVELOPMENT ›PLATFORM ›DIGITAL ASSETS ›BNY MELLON’S CLIENTS

- 16 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT partner intomorrow’spartner digitalbanking.” DLT networks,Commerzbankisareliable internet companies,andcooperation with withtechnologyand strategic partnerships securities andtrade finance, aswell transactions intheareas ofpayments, in theemerging assetuniverse. Withpilot technology andisasought-afterexpert has manyyears ofexperiencewithDLT systems ofthefuture. Commerzbank shape oneofthesedigitalasseteco said: “We seethepotentialto actively Manfred Knof, CEOofCommerzbankAG, a universal bank. second largest Germanbankoperating as Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaftisthe OVERVIEW 5. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

Commerzbank — - Germany distributed ledger technologyforthefirsttime. carried outalegally bindingrepo transaction basedon Commerzbank and DeutscheBörsehave successfully platform, inFrankfurt in2000. the world‘s leadingelectronic foreign exchange trading will follow.” CarloKölzer andhisteamfounded360T, highly scalablemodelsothatadditionalassetclasses andreal estate.360Xissetupasa venues forart digital markets. We are with trading therefore starting trading venues for assetsthathave notyet existedin and CapitalMarkets.’ We create transparent andliquid Investable — Bridging theGapbetweenAssetClasses and CEOof360X.“Ourmantra is‘Making Things illiquid assetclasses,explainsCarloKölzer, founder trading platformmakes iteasierto invest inpreviously real andreal assetgroups estate. like art The new digital marketplaces andecosystemsforestablished with fintech360X to create newblockchain-based Deutsche BörseandCommerzbankare teamingup SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›TRANSACTION ›TOKENIZATION ›PROOF OF technology (March 2019) securities processingbinding using distributedledger outlegally Commerzbank andDeutscheBörse carry ›MARKETPLACE ›BLOCKCHAIN ›INVESTMENT ›ONGOING new digitalmarketplaces (Apr 2021) Deutsche BörseandCommerzbankjointlyinvest in CONCEPT ›COMPLETED (proof-of-concept), whichexaminesthepossibilities ofajointfeasibility study ment wascarriedoutaspart The prototype transaction utilizingdelivery-versus-pay- Commerzbank. RomanSchmidt, HeadofCapitalMarkets at reports easier, faster, andmore efficient forourcustomers,” has great potentialto make capitalmarket transactions through transactions like these.Blockchain technology our customers ontheir way to digitaltransformation asset.We arean important happy thatwecansupport with thecustomer remains changing, thepartnership “While markets andtechnologiesare constantly volume of€ 100,000over three days. ofatesttransaction. Itcompriseda technology aspart security betweencompaniesbasedonblockchain For thefirsttime,they have processed money market incubators, theR&DunitofCommerzbankGroup. Deutsche Börse,” says MichaelF. SpitzCEOofprimary future technologyforthecapitalmarket together with milestone fortheadaptationofthis an important as aplatformoperator andto have reached such “We are pleasedto have accompaniedthetransaction processing. of blockchain technologyinthearea of ›TRANSACTION ›BLOCKCHAIN ›PROOF OF CONCEPT ›COMPLETED blockchain technology(Feb 2019) Commerzbank, Continental,andSiemensare testing securities ​​ 17 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT into digitalassetsonanoperational level. an investor butisyet to announceitsentry innovative DLTand supported initiatives as inseveralparticipated pilottransactions Over thepastthree years, thebankhas asset management,andshared services. Credit Suisseprovides private banking, offices in financialcenter.every total assetsof$ 800billion,andmaintains most influentialfinancialinstitutions,with Credit Suisseisconsidered oneofthe Zurich. in companyheadquartered services Credit SuisseisaSwissglobalfinancial OVERVIEW edit Suisse — 6. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

Cr Switzerland to back,spanningtheentire fundlifecycle. fund distribution value chain’s reengineering from front guaranteeing privacy andhighefficiency, allows the Ethereum‘s permissionedblockchain technology, ted ledgertechnology(DLT). FundsDLT, basedon platform to facilitatefundsdistribution ondistribu Managers to create anovel decentralized technology Luxembourg Stock Exchange, andNatixisInvestment Clearstream, Credit SuisseAssetManagement, the FundsDLT raised aSeries Ainvestment from at Credit Suisse. said EmmanuelAidoo,headofdigitalassetsmarkets ter settlementtimesatlowercostsinpublicequities,” We’re excited to make progress inforging apathto fas- “Innovation inblockchain technologyisincremental. securities settlementplatformPaxos. same-day settlementcycle onblockchain-based Nomura have settledUS-listedequitiestrades onthe The broker-dealer businessesofCredit Suisseand SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›PARTNERSHIP ›BLOCKCHAIN ›INVESTMENT FUNDS ›ONGOING (Mar2020) industry blockchain-based platformfortheinvestment fund to developPartnership FundsDLT, agroundbreaking ›EQUITIES ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPLETED (Apr. 2021) US equitiestrades onthesameday withPaxos Credit SuisseandInstinetuseblockchain to settle

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groundwork fordigitalfunddistribution. investors theabilityto gaintransparency and lay the eliminating duplicateoperations whilealsooffering end andthewholesupplychaintoservicers, cutcostsby The platformenablesassetmanagers,dealers, asset managers.” enabling considerable benefitsforbothclientsand efficiency butalso to create newdistributionchannels, FundsDLT lever powerful to increase asafurther ofourdigitalizationjourney,As part weconsider seek to easetheaccessto ourproducts for clients. ment Switzerland and EMEA,said:“We continuously Michel Degen,HeadofCredit SuisseAssetManage (SEE “FNALITY” SECTION P. 51) (Jun 2019) New Blockchain SettlementCoinConsortia ­

18 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT and wealthmanagers.” is targeted towards professional investors whom it brings on, and the product offering the bankclaimsthat:“it’s selective very on While thesefigures may appearmodest, crypto trust. clients inanewlystarted lion intrading volume amongits120 assets undercustody and$ 23–$ 30 mil the bankstatedthatithad$ 80millionin Duringarecentservices. earningscall, in capitalmarkets and secure custodial DBS Bankhasdecadesofexperience Euromoney. was named“World’s BestDigitalBank”by to changethefinancialindustry‘s future, it The bankleverages digitaltechnologies company.and financialservices DBS isaSingapore-based globalbanking OVERVIEW 7. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

DBS — Singapore - as cryptocurrencies turn more mainstream.” in digitalassets, and weexpectthistrend to accelerate clients have expressed interest orare already invested Private Bank,inastatement. “Inrecent years, more beneficiaries,” saidJoseph Poon, group headofDBS be safely managedandpassedonto theirintended hold theseassets,withapeaceof mindthatthey will “Our truststructure allowsclientsto conveniently exchange to store theircryptocurrency withthebank. trust offering, allowingclientsofitsdigitalasset DBS Bankannouncedtheestablishmentofacrypto exercise,” shesaid inastatement. oftheircapitalfundraisingtoken issuanceaspart tostream embrace asmore ofourclientsstart security asset tokenization to increasingly become more main bet onblockchain’s widespread adoption.“We expect Seat Moey, explainedthatthebank’s. Digitalbondisa $ 11.3 million.DBS’s headofcapitalmarkets, Eng-Kwok that willpoweritsupcomingsecuritytoken offering at DBS announcedthatithadpricedtheblockchain bonds SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›CRYPTOCURRENCY ›DBS’S CLIENTS ›LIVE trust (May 2021) In afirstforAsia,DBShaslaunchedcryptocurrency ›BOND ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE Blockchain Bonds(May 2021) Singapore BankDBSIssues$ 11.3millionin - with theUSbusinessday. token offering andextenditstrading hoursto coincide Later thisyear, the bankplansto launchasecurity dollar, USdollar, andJapaneseyen. four fiattrading pairs:Singapore dollar, Hong Kong assets —bitcoin,ether, bitcoincash,andXRP— Its trust and exchange business is limited to four crypto offering, whichisdifferentiated inmanyways.” We believe thatthisisthefirstofitskind integrated ment ofafullyintegrated ecosystemto facilitatethis. trading. DBSiscommittedto accelerating the develop- mainstream adoptionofdigitalassetsand currency hub, wehave to prepare ourselves to welcomethe become even more competitive asaglobalfinancial tunities to reshape capitalmarkets. For Singapore to pace ofassetdigitalizationprovides immenseoppor Piyush Gupta,Group CEO, DBS,said,“Theexponential ecosystem. ted digitalassettokenization, trading, andcustody Accredited Investors inafullyintegra to- participate Creating adigitalexchange for Institutionaland Launch full-service digitalexchange (Dec2020) Launch full-service ›INSTITUTIONAL AND ACCREDITED INVESTORS ›ONGOING ›TOKENIZATION ›TRADING ›CUSTODY

- 19 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT for savings banksandtheircustomers.” group andprovide comprehensive services blockchain-based infrastructure inour in thefuture. We wantto shapethefuture toeverything necessary fillthisposition Savings BanksFinanceGroup andwilldo We are thecentral assetmanagerinthe both private andinstitutionalinvestors. of investment products to andservices gers. Itprovides accessto awidevariety vice providers andreal estateassetmana Germany‘s mostsignificantsecuritiesser assets sector said:“DekaBankisoneof the bankisplanningto play inthedigital answering thequestionaboutwhatrole innovation laboratory OpenDigitalFactory, Andreas Albrecht, headofDekaBank‘s Deka Group. Together withitssubsidiaries,itformsthe Germany’s “Sparkassen” (savings banks). DekaBank isthesecuritieshouseof OVERVIEW 8. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

DekaBank — - - Germany the DCP. step, theorganization plansto adddigitalsecuritiesto cial instrumentsare theway ofthe future. Inthenext the firsttransactions, digital securitiesanddigitalfinan While traditional securitieswere usedto accomplish transactions usingtheDigitalCollateral Protocol (DCP). Aufhäuser have settled approximately € 300millionin lement system.DekaBank,clientFunds, andHauck& transactions usingablockchain-based securities sett consulting firm,completedthefirstsecuritieslending Aufhäuser, software and andComyno,thepartnering In Q42020,DekaBank,DekaInvestment, Hauck& SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPLETED ›TRANSACTION ›DIGITAL COLLATERAL PROTOCOL (Q4 2020) first securitieslendingtransactions onblockchain DekaBank-led DigitalCollateral Protocol completes

- - is possible.” loan fullydigitallyintheblockchain, andproductive use map allprocesses relating to thebankborrower‘s note ment offinledger. Nowweare atapointwhere wecan banks have develop worked- intensively onthefurther bed thissuccessfulcooperation saying: “All project K.Müller,Martin aboard memberofDekaBank,descri chain technology. process risksandcoststhanksto theplatform‘s block process stepswere cutinhalfwhileguaranteeing lower digitized theunderlyinghandlingprocesses. Individual Finledger, wasuniqueinthattheplatform entirely This issuance,realized usingtheblockchain platform cessing process usingonlydigitalmeans. end-to-end processing ofapromissory noteloanpro- DekaBank, DZ BANK,dwpbank,andHelabacompleted For thefirsttime,across-institutional teamincluding actions viablockchain (Sept2020) Successfully processing borrower‘s noteloantrans - ›TRANSACTION ›NOTE LOAN ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPLETED - - 20 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT structure, whichwill delay it. require significantchanges to themarket infra- processing are apparent. However, thiswill infrastructure andthuslowercostsfaster will happen. The advantages ofasimplified 20 years, Ihave ball,butI’m nocrystal sure it future. Idon’t knowwhen,maybe in10,15, I thinkalmostallassetswillbedigitalinthe Finledger. development andcommissioningof He wasjointlyresponsible forthe its possibleapplicationsinthebank. concentrating ontheblockchain and market. Since2014hehasbeen his thoughtsonthedigitalasset tion laboratory, hasagreed to share Digital Factory, DekaBank’s innova- Andreas Albrecht, headoftheOpen INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe already give usaforetaste forthis. will emerge;services thevarious DeFiprojects processes andregulations. Newproducts and assets. This willrequire extensive changesto cial products willbemadeavailable asdigital In thefirststep,more andmore well-knownfinan customers. forsavingshensive services banksandtheir infrastructure inourgroup andprovide compre- want to shapethefuture blockchain-based tonecessary fillthis position inthefuture. We Banks FinanceGroup andwilldoeverything We are thecentral assetmanagerintheSavings topic indigitalassetsrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest achieve inthedigitalassetsmarket? Which role/position isyour institutionaimingto - 21 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT needs inSingapore andaround theworld.” cross-bordercan service issuer-investor clear placeforanintegrated platform that tional infrastructure. Asaresult, weseea ofabank’srity withthesupport institu confidence intheirsafekeeping andsecu assets, ensure settlementfinality, andhave increasingly needto custodize theirdigital FSTI fundingscheme.Investors will withSTACSproud to partner ontheMAS “As thesponsorofproject, weare STACS andDeutscheBankcollaboration: Deutsche Bank,saidwhenasked about at Management, SecuritiesServices Jeslyn Tan, GlobalHead ofProduct Jim Reid,aneconomistatDeutscheBank. years to comeifweare correct,” explained alternative mediansofexchange inthe there couldbeanincreasing desire for about blockchain asanythingelse,but the rage atthemomentandare asmuch and theworld.“Cryptocurrencies are all the largest financialinstitutionsin Europe The largest bankinGermanyandoneof OVERVIEW 9. COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES

Deutsche Bank — - - Germany digital securities.” with cross-platform interoperability forESG-compliant contracts capabilities distributed ledgerandsmart explored thesynergies betweenFintechandESG,using This cutting-edge‘bondinabox’ POCsuccessfully cornerstones oftheemerging ESGcapitalmarket. said: “Datatransparency, reliability, andsecurityare Kamran Khan,APAC HeadofESGatDeutscheBank, digital assetsandsustainability-linked digitalbonds. on theuseofdistributedledgertechnology(DLT) for proof-of-concept (POC) referred to asProject Benja Hashstacs (STACS) announcedthecompletionoftheir Deutsche Bank’s inSingapore SecuritiesServices and SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›PROOF-OF-CONCEPT ›DIGITALS ASSETS & ESG Assets andESGBonds(May 2021) Deutsche BankandSTACS Complete PoC forDigital BONDS ›COMPLETED gauging worldwideclientdemand forapilotprogram. to launchaminimum viableproduct in 2021whilealso The bankhasfinisheditsproof ofconceptandplans • • • ecosystem. with seamlessaccessto thewidercryptocurrency ture forinstitutionalclientsandtheirdigitalassets, intends to create afullyintegrated custody infrastruc - The DeutscheBankDigitalAssetCustody prototype

Brokerage (Feb 2021) Deutsche BankPlansto Offer Crypto Custody, Prime ›CUSTODY ›CRYPTOCURRENCIES ›PLATFORM ›INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS ›PROOF OF CONCEPT safety andaccessibilityofassetsforclients. tion withinsurance-grade protection to ensure the Provide aninstitutional-grade hot/coldstorage solu suppliers. dian orthird-party door to provided value-added services by thecusto holdings inastraightforward platform, andopenthe Manage awiderange ofdigitalassetsandfiat assets andtheirtraditional bankingservices. Create asecure linkbetweenacustomer‘s digital ­ - 22 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT speeding upsettlement. flows andassetowners‘identities, through enhancedcapacityto viewtrading fixed costs,improving market transparency ticipants by reducing intermediariesand of capitalmarkets willbenefitmarket par they believe thatinthefuture, digitalization on apublicblockchain, EIBannouncedthat Following theirfirstdigitalbondissuance lenders. the world‘s supranational mostpowerful with memberstatesowningit.It‘s oneof the European Union‘s investment bank, The European Investment Bank(EIB)is OVERVIEW 10. European Investment Bank(EIB) — Luxembourg COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - innovative, efficient andsecure market infrastructure.” both issuersandinvestors, whilecontributingto an system, theEIBbelieves thiswillbring value addedfor helping to create aframework foranew market eco technology fortheissuanceoffinancial securities.By the EIB’s firststepasapioneerintheuse of blockchain in capitalmarkets’ innovation, thistransaction marks EIB, said: “In another testimony of EIB’s leading position deMazières,Bertrand Director General Financeatthe the transaction. Ethereum, apublicblockchain protocol, wasusedfor principal isexpectedto berepaid incommercial fiat. representing central money (CBDC). At maturity, the the issuerusingCentral BankDigital Currency, against Managers willthensettletheunderwriting and pay forusingregular fiatcurrency. TheJointLead tokens onablockchain, whichinvestors canpurchase This transaction entailstheEIBissuingaseriesofbond ledger technologyto register andsettledigitalbonds. bond onablockchain platform,utilizingdistributed Societe Generale, theEIBissueda€ 100milliondigital In conjunctionwithGoldmanSachs,Santander, and SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BOND ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE (April 2021) EIB issueditsfirstdigitalbondonapublicblockchain - 23 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT market match theirobjectives inthedigital assets risk andreview theirinternal policies to with regulators to seekgreater clarityon goals inthisspace.HSBCisalsoengaging is workingto establish andtheirbroader asset product proposition thatthebank fitsinto thedigital This gaininexpertise and digitalassetservicing. required to offer tokenization asaservice the knowledge,skillsets,andcapabilities the ecosystem,HSBCcontinuesto gain tion. Through collaborative projects with inblockchain andtokenizasolid expertise various initiatives, HSBCisdeveloping It isthelargest bankinEurope. Through based intheUK. holdingcorporationand financialservices HSBC isamultinationalinvestment bank OVERVIEW 11. HSBC — COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES UK - tion orfacilitateatransaction record audit. when they‘ll getthecoupononaprivate debttransac- time. Asaresult, they canconveniently keep track of information oftheirprivate assetsdirectly andinreal- documents, globalcustody clientscannowaccess estate. Insteadofrequesting ascanofpaper-based private placementassetssuchasequity, debt,andreal platformdigitizesservice thetransaction history of blockchain-based custody platform. The DigitalVault HSBC plansto move $ 20millioninassetsto anew tory, platform. andservicing International onSGX‘s digitalassetissuance, deposi on $ 100 milliontapsofthesameissueby Olam $ 400 million 5.5-year publicbondissueandafollow- with HSBCSingapore and Temasek, replicated a The Singapore Exchange (SGX),incollaboration SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BLOCKCHAIN ›CUSTODY ›GLOBAL CUSTODY ofassets(Nov 2019) $ 20 billionworth HSBC swapspaperrecords forblockchain to track ›PLATFORM ›DIGITAL BONDS ›CORPORATE ›COMPLETED bond pilotforOlamInternational(Sep2020) SGX, HSBC,and Temasek collaborated onadigital CLIENTS ›COMPLETED - transaction took just24hoursto complete. ges forlettersofcredit usuallytake 5-10days. This operationally viable.Paper-based exchan paperwork - trade digitizationsolutionisbothcommercially and Cargill. The transaction proved thatblockchain asa tion for international food and agriculture conglomerate and INGBankcompletedalive trade financetransac- Using R3‘s Corda scalableblockchain network,HSBC 25 %. its forex trade settlementreduced operations costsby thatblockchain tech’sbank reported implementationin work suchasinvoice payment documentation. The between networkmembersandminimizingmanual ers’ network,allowingforastablecommunicationlayer process forHSBC‘s corporate customers andtheir buy instrument automates theaccountsreceivable (AR) its receivables infrastructure forcorporate clients. The InIndia,HSBCintegrated tokenization technologyinto for India(Jun2019) Launches Tokenization-Based Receivables System ›TRANSACTION ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPETED form (May 2018) finance transaction onR3’s Corda Blockchain plat HSBC andINGexecute groundbreaking live trade ›TOKENIZATION ›CORPORATE CLIENTS ›COMPLETED - - 24 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT workflows. the ecosystemby simplifyingexistingmulti-party depositories in benefitsallmarket participants infrastructure providers suchasexchanges and market infrastructure modernizationledby broader investor base.We believe DLT based illiquid private assets,andenablesaccessto a asset classes,improves theliquidityofcurrently trade value chains,tokenization unlocksnew strategic opportunity. Besidesoptimizing existing We seetokenized ordigitalassetsasacritical thoughts onthedigitalassetmarket. Kong) hasagreed to share their UK, Germany, andSingapore/Hong HSBC (aworkinggroup across the The SecuritiesServices Team of INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole will digitalassetsplay inthe are layered withcarbon offset/credit tokens. net-zero products where tokenized commodities new typesofstructured products efficiently, e.g., ties — Possibility ofcreating anddistributing New tokenized product innovation opportuni review ourinternalpoliciesinlinewiththis. with regulators to seekgreater clarityonriskand and ourbroader goals.We are alsoengaging product proposition weare workingto establish toservicing clients. This fitsinto thedigitalasset offer tokenization anddigitalasset asaservice edge, skillsets,andcapabilitiesrequired to ecosystem, HSBCcontinuesto gaintheknowl Through collaborative projects withthe topic indigitalassetsrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest achieve inthedigitalassetsmarket? Which role/position isyour institutionaimingto - - 25 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT in thisarea.” in banking,andweplanto continueto lead blockchain engineeringandproduct team and securities.We dohave thebiggest area andalsointhemovement ofassets inthepayments increasingly important Blockchain atJ.P. Morgan: “Blockchain is Wholesale Payments andHeadof Umar Farooq, HeadofDigitaland mainly onblockchain technology. annually intechnology, latelyfocussing objective forthebank,itinvests $ 12billion Innovation anddigitalizationisacrucial company basedintheUnitedStates. holding ment bankandfinancialservices JPMorgan Chaseisa multinationalinvest OVERVIEW 12. JPMorgan — USA COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - face. of thechallengesconventional cross-border payments real-time value transfer, which helpsovercome some kept ondepositwiththebank.JPMCoinallowsfor ledger, allowingJ.P. Morgan clientsto move USDollars that actsasbothapayment rail andadepositaccount JPM Coinisapermissioned,shared ledgersystem it. and keep bitcointhrough fundswithoutever touching and GalaxyDigital,whichenablewealthyclientsto buy heavyweightscrypto industry such asPantera Capital from thepassivea significantdeparture offerings of bitcoin fundwouldbeactively operated. That marks Multiple sources informedCoinDeskthatJPMorgan‘s bitcoin fundcouldlaunchasearlythissummer. managed fundto aselectgroup ofclients. JPMorgan‘s JPMorgan Chaseplansto sellabitcoin(BTC) actively SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›COIN ›CRYPTOCURRENCY ›JP MORGAN’S CLIENTS ›ONGOING JP Morgan coingolive (Oct2020) ›BITCOIN ›INVESTMENT ›JPM CLIENTS ›EXPECTED JPMorgan to letclientsinvest inbitcoin(Apr 2021) conventional transactions. cost savings and muchquicker settlement timesthan place onablockchain network,they have considerable to completetheprocess. Sincethesetransactions take coins canthenredeem themforUSdollarsviathebank transact ontheQuorumblockchain. RecipientsofJPM respective sumintheJPMcoin,whichthey canuseto ding fundsto apredetermined account,they receive the lement layer: Afteraclientinitiatestheprocess by sen J.P. Morgan anditsclientsusetheJPMcoinasasett to clientsby bringingtogether leadingtechnologists. Quorum®, to standards pushindustry anddeliver value JPM Coin,InterbankInformationNetwork®(IIN),and to actualize enterprise-grade blockchain tools, suchas solutions across itslinesbusiness. The program aims use casesto implementin-housetechnologyandpilot implementations, aggressively exploringblockchain Morgan‘s inDistributedLedger Technology efforts The Blockchain CenterofExcellence leadsJ.P. The Blockchain CenterofExcellence ›RESEARCH CENTER ›BLOCKCHAIN ›INTERNAL ›ONGOING - - 26 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT to proactively shapethisfield.” merely thisdevelopment; observe wewant economic process. [...]We don’t wantto role ofbanksasintermediariesinthe “Blockchain technologywillchangethe of corporate financeatLBBWsaid: Already in2017,Joachim Erdle, head savings Palatinate‘s banks. Saxony,Württemberg, andRhineland- asthecentralthat serves bankforBaden- LBBW isamedium-sized universal bank OVERVIEW Germany (LBBW) — 13. LandesbankBaden-Württemberg COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES Treasury. the mediumterm,” Schäfer, saidKurt Head ofDaimler bring majorefficiencygainsina scalable ecosystemin issues andtrade finance,blockchain technologycan transactions, butalsoinsecuritiestransactions, bond to minimize risks.Especiallyin thearea ofpayment allowes to increase thesecurityof transactions and significantly reduced. At thesametime,technology parent. Processing timeandtransaction costscanbe existing financialprocesses more efficientand trans “Blockchain technologyoffers thepotentialto make dent onR3‘s Corda blockchain protocol. implementation to Debtvision. This, inturn,wasdepen nected LBBW‘s DLT (DistributedLedger Technology) platform to market theborrower‘s noteloan. They con- were alldoneelectronically. They usedtheDebtvision marketing, processing, andlegallyprotected signatures € 25millionentirely digitally.loan worth Electronic For thefirsttime,Daimlercompletedaborrower‘s note SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›TRANSACTION ›DIGITAL SECURITY ›COMPLETED (Feb 2019) at € 1millionwithMEAG andWeinberg Capital DAC Sale andredemption ofamoney market papervalued ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LOAN ›CORPORATE ›COMPLETED processed (Apr 2020) First fullydigitalblockchain promissory note - - processes. project forcapitalmarket transactions andfinancial note withavolumemissory of€ 100million asapilot Daimler andLBBWlauncheda1year corporate pro- partner. implementation by targets, itssubsidiary aCorda-R3 inthetechnical LBBW wasadvisedandsupported distributed ledgertechnologywithnostringsattached.” Finance, says, “Nowwehave proved thepowerof logy (DLT). JoachimErdle, LBBW‘s HeadofCorporate entirely ontheCorda R3distributedledgertechno market paperwithafive-day maturitywere completed The sellingandredemption ofa€ 1millionmoney time withoutapaper-based,parallel process. securities transaction usingblockchain forthefirst Capital DAC” to conductalegallysuccessfuldigital form provider allowedtheissuingcompany“Weinberg Together withMEAG asaninvestor, thebankasaplat ›LOAN ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPLETED (Jun 2017) technology forlaunchofcorporate promissory note Daimler andLBBWsuccessfullyutilize blockchain - - 27 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT blish itsowntokenization platform. fintech BillonlastOctober 2020 to esta with tion plans,whichiswhyitpartnered enough” fortheAustrian bank‘s tokeniza by StefanAndjelic,aCBDC“wouldn‘t be According to RBI‘s blockchain hublead Group Austria‘s principalinstitution. banking group andtheRaiffeisen Banking Raiffeisen BankInternationalisanAustrian OVERVIEW 14. Raiffeisen BankInternational(RBI) — COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - - • • • bank andintercompany payments. project onRBICoin,ane-money pilotsolutionforinter ofBitpanda‘swill beimplementedaspart techresearch Pantos, Bitpandablockchain interoperability project, SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES

›COOPERATION ›COIN ›DEVELOPMENT STAGE and BitpandaontheRBIcoin(Oct2020) Cooperation betweenRaiffeisen BankInternational the bankingindustry. critical usecaseforblockchain interoperability and blockchain protocols to interact witheachotherisa Allowing financialappsbasedondifferent underlying be implementedonRBICoin. As thefirstProof ofConcept, Pantos technologywill development. Bank Internationalafter2.5years ofresearch and withRaiffeisena criticalmilestone by partnering Bitpanda‘s Pantos (PAN) technologyhasreached Austria - needs.” and helpclientswithpayments processing andliquidity w,ithbanks needto partner fintechs to innovate faster their clients.SpecificallyduringtheCOVID-19 situation, to adaptblockchain to theneedsofbanksand serve example ofafintechcompanythatunderstandshow Bank International,comments:“Billonisagreat Stefan Andjelic,Blockchain HubLeadatRaiffeisen applications.” that canbecomethebackboneformanyenterprise tokenization. The goalisto develop “an architecture this pilotto implementanewformofnationalcurrency acceleration program earlierthisyear, willbeusedin was successfullytestedduringRBI‘s Elevator Lab clients. Billon‘s distributedledgertechnology, which with aselectgroup ofRBIcorporate and institutional currency Tokenization Platforminto apilotproject sen to turnasuccessfulproof-of-concept ofanational Billon andRaiffeisen BankInternational(RBI)have cho- Digitized NationalCurrency (May 2020) Billon andRaiffeisen BankInternational(RBI)to Pilot ›ONGOING ›TOKENIZATION ›CORPORATE & INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS

28 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT shares, leadingto entirely newbusiness models. utterly newproduct designs,e.g.,fractionalized offerings. digital assetscouldshow Furthermore, and processing speedover traditional product have significantadvantages inprocess efficiency predictions turntrue, digitalassetswill experts’ tive impactontraditional business behavior. If the riseofdigitalassetswillhave atrulydisrup role inthe capitalmarkets. Iwould even say that I believe thatdigitalassetswillplay asignificant Project Manager. worked atRBIasaSeniorProcess & Before thisposition,Mr. Prettenthaler thoughts onthedigitalassetmarket. of RBI,hasagreed to share his &Ecosystem Manager Partnerships Gernot Prettenthaler, Senior capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe - countries withdifferent legalframeworks. the RBIgroup ofnetworkbanksactive in14 tion offundsandstimulating innovation within actively runningproof ofconceptsontokeniza throughout theindustry.experts Still,weare also preparing strategy papersandexchanges with and securitytokens are onouragenda.We are From beginning,tokenization thevery ofassets Blockchain Center. tence centeronblockchain technologycalled RBI already foundedin2017agroup-wide compe and make itafuture fit. For this reason, RBIhas it isournatural aimto preserve thisbusiness businesses.Ofcourse, funds andcertificate products, includingspecialized companiesfor We inRBIgroup offer awiderange ofsecurity in whichnewofferings canflourish. how fastmarket ecosystems canbeestablished products indigitalassets.Italsomustbeseen theintroduction ofnew will hopefullysupport lations inplace. The upcomingMiCAregulation perspective, there are concernsabouttheregu - to getthingsright.Especially from anAustrian Despite thisoptimism,there isstillsomeway INTERVIEW achieve inthedigitalassetsmarket? Which role/position isyour institutionaimingto - - digital assets. market andultimatelyboostthedevelopment of exchange provider willstimulate and testthe of fractionalized shares by anAustrian crypto we wouldassumethattheannouncedoffering In product offerings for the private customer, the volatile gaspricedueto Defihype. product offerings andtheongoingquestionof for these ment asEthereum important isvery perspective, wealsoseeaninteresting develop- of real product offering. From atechnology leaving thePoC phaseandenteringthestage the firstprojects inSwitzerland andGermany bonds are thehottesttopic currently. We cansee institutional andcorporate clientsoffering digital From ourmarket Iwouldsay observations, that near future. solutionsindigitalassetsthe state-of-the-art existing andnewclientsinourmarkets with technologies andcompliantprocesses to provide Our ultimategoalisto findthecorrect answersin topic indigital assetsinrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest 29 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT network.” ned layer-two ontop ofapublicblockchain tes inafullycontrolled, private, permissio for anassetclassofsecuritiesthatopera- where there isaglobalsettlementnetwork finance, saying: “Icouldimagineafuture ledger technologyadoptioninmainstream potential forincreased decentralized lab inMadrid,JohnWhelan,hypedthe The headofBancoSantander‘s blockchain Europe andtheAmericas. significant presence intencore markets in largest banksby market value, witha formed in1857.Itisoneoftheworld‘s commercial bankbased inSpainthatwas Banco Santanderisamajorretail and OVERVIEW 15. Santander — COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - Spain and the quarterly coupons have beentokenizedand thequarterly the investment (on-chaindelivery-versus-payment), in apermissioned manner. The cashusedto complete tokenizing thebondandrecording itontheblockchain helps Santandercompletethemilestone ofsecurely blockchain technologies,wasusedby Santander. This blockchain, oneofthemore advanced open-source and cryptographic key custodian. The publicEthereum isthetokenizationSantander SecuritiesServices agent coupon. price. The bondcarriesa1.98 %quarterly one oftheGroup’s unitspurchased thebondatmarket Banco Santanderisthe$ 20millionbondissuer, while EIB onitsnextinnovative issuances.” kets innovation andlookforward to workingwiththe “We are pushing to be attheforefront ofcapitalmar Corporate &Investment Banking(SantanderCIB): José M.Linares, SEVPandGlobalHeadofSantander Generale. boration withGoldmanSachs,Santander, andSociete technology to register andsettledigitalbondsincolla a blockchain platform,deploying this distributedledger EIB launchedadigitalbond(€ 100million)issuanceon SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BLOCKCHAIN ›TOKEN ›TRANSACTION ›COMPLETED 2019) Launch ofthefirstend to endblockchain bond(Sept ›BOND ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE first digitalbondonapublicblockchain (April 2021) inEIB’sSantander wasoneofthethree participants

- - straightforward. making thetransaction faster, more efficient,andmore ries required intheprocess dueto thisautomation, maturity bondhasreduced thenumberofintermedia (digitally represented ontheblockchain). The one-year (Jun 2019) New Blockchain SettlementCoinConsortia (SEE “FNALITY” SECTION P. 51) - 30 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT security. market infrastructures andimproving payment procedures whilealsosimplifying logies, whichcanautomate andshorten blockchain anddistributedledgertechno inseveralparticipating initiatives basedon For several years, theGroup hasbeen inParis. company headquartered investment bankandfinancialservices Société Générale isaFrench multinational OVERVIEW 16. SociétéGénérale COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - Assurances fullysubscribed to thesecurities. blockchain by Societe Generale. SocieteGenerale Security Token directly registered onthe public The firststructured product was released asa full DigitalAssetoffer.” Generale in Capital recognizedMarkets with a expertise Societe Generale — FORGE which completesSociete EU digitalcapitalmarkets. This is anewmilestone for Ledger Technology-based projects inthedeveloping de France. Itdemonstrates theappealofDistributed banks andtwomajorinstitutions:theEIBBanque involved SocieteGenerale — FORGE, three international blockchain settledwithacentral bankdigitalcurrency Generale: “Thispioneerbondissuanceonapublic Frédéric Oudéa,Chief Executive OfficeratSociete ledger technologyto register andsettledigitalbonds. bond onablockchain platform,utilizingdistributed Societe Generale, theEIBissueda€ 100milliondigital In conjunctionwithGoldmanSachs,Santander, and SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›STRUCTURED PRODUCT ›TOKEN ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE blockchain (April 2021) product asasecuritytoken onthe Tezos public Societe Generale issueda€ 5millionstructured ›BOND ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE blockchain (April 2021) inEIB’sparticipants firstdigitalbondona public Societe Generale wasnominatedasoneofthree — France and April2019transactions. This operation followsinthefootstepsofMay 2020 Societe Generale FORGEhave worked ontogether. This isthefirst pilot project thatSocieteGenerale and directly ontheEthereum blockchain. tat” or“OFH”)asasecuritytoken thatwasregistered (also knownas“obligations definancementl’habi Generale Group, issued € 100millionincovered bonds Societe Generale oftheSociete SFH,asubsidiary chain-based market activity. Forge platform,whichaimsto encourage recent block ning ofanewphaseindeveloping theSociete Generale blockchain platform. This transaction marks thebegin digital formofeuros issuedby BanquedeFrance viaa bed to theseOFH Tokens, andtheissuer waspaidina Societe Generale SFH.SocieteGenerale fullysubscri rity tokens directly registered onapublicblockchain by € 40millionwereCovered issuedassecu bondsworth of covered bonds(May 2020) Societe Generale follow-upissuanceof€ 40million ›COVERED BOND ›SECURITY TOKEN ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LIVE chain (April 2019) bonds asasecuritytoken ontheEthereum block- Societe Generale issued€ 100millionofcovered ›BOND ›TOKEN ›LIVE - - - - - 31 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT licensed digitalassetplatformOSL. Securities andFutures Commission(SFC)- company andparent oftheHongKong BC Group being,isanAsiandigitalassets ment infrastructure”. ding blocksforasafe andreliable invest asset class.We are constructingthebuil institutional market asahighlyrelevant here to stay andwillbeadoptedby the a strong convictionthatdigitalassetsare withBCGroup: “Wetheir partnership have Alex MansonofSCVentures saidfollowing active inthedigitalassetmarket. vices corporation. The bankhasbeenvery international bankingandfinancialser isaLondon-based Standard Chartered OVERVIEW UK 17. Standard Chartered — COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - - - traded onthe top cryptocurrency exchanges. 80 % ofthetotal assets[equivalent to $ 395billion] demand andoperation, accounting forapproximately –. These assetsconstitutemostclient Ethereum atlaunch, followedby XRP, ,and for themosttraded cryptocurrency assets — Bitcoin, ding regulatory approval, willprovide custody services operationsplans to inLondon.Zodia, start whoispen transaction andsettlementactivities.In2021,Zodia institutions to invest inblockchain assetsby facilitating Trust. withNorthern partnership Zodia allowsfinancial investors, waslaunchedby in Standard Chartered Zodia, acryptocurrency custodian for institutional of2021. quarter launch inthefourth Subject to regulatory permissions, theJVplansto corporate clientsintheUnitedKingdomandEurope. brokerage andexchange platformforinstitutionaland have announcedacollaboration to buildadigitalasset ventures unit,andBC Technology Group (BCGroup), SC Ventures, Standard Chartered‘s innovation and SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›CUSTODY ›INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS ›UNDER DEVELOPMENT investors (Dec2020) Zodia, acryptocurrency custodian forinstitutional ›DIGITAL-ASSETS ›TRADING ›INSTITUTIONAL & CORPORATE venture inEurope (Jun2021) up to launchaninstitutionaldigitalassettrading andtheBCGroupStandard Chartered have teamed CLIENTS ›IN DEVELOPMENT - dity andtransparency intheretail bondmarkets.” open upahostofpossibilitiesaround solvingforliqui release that:“Thesuccessofthisproof ofconceptwill mentionedinitspressminutes. Standard Chartered for customers isreduced from manydays to onlyafew paperless andmore efficient,astheprocessing time the investor. Investing inbonds becomescompletely to purchase form,allthe way through to allocationto bility evaluation, andthecompletionofapplication withaccountverification, clientsuita process, starting UnionBank willprofit from anentirely digitalend-to-end form usingStellarastheunderlyingprotocol. Clientsof ance ofaretail bond($ 187million)onadigitalplat Bank (SCB),completedaproof ofconceptfortheissu (UnionBank), incollaboration withStandard Chartered In December2020,UnionBankofthePhilippines (Dec 2020) Blockchain-enabled bondissuanceinthePhilippines ›COMPLETED ›TOKENIZATION ›RETAIL-CLIENTS ›PROOF OF CONCEPT - - - - 32 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT industry of industry today and the one of tomorrow.” help ourclientsbridgethegapbetween the tructure andoperating models,wecan momentum, buttransform financialinfras - currencies andtokenizations notonly gain leader ofthisnewdivisionsaid:“As digital Nadine Chakar, whowasappointedas tion ofanewdivision;StateStreet Digital. They announcedthisJune2021thecrea- indelivering solutions.”partners activelyvery engaged withclientsand over thenext5years, andweare already formational forces affecting ourindustry of digitalassetsasonethemosttrans Markets, says: “We seetheimplementation Nadine Chakar, headofStateStreet Global digital assetspaceforanumberofyears; State Street hasbeenengagedinthe United States. Boston. Itisthesecond-oldestbankin andbankholdingfirmbasedin cial service State Street Corporation isaglobalfinan OVERVIEW 18. StateStreet — USA COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - - asset-types.” trading;services; andtoken issuanceforthesenew sed oncreating digitalcash;custody andpost-trade crypto anddigitalassetsecosystem,which isfocu to deliver onourbroader strategy ofbuildingoutthe VanEck isanotherexampleofStateStreet continuing Chakar states:“Theworkwehave with underway vering solutions.” Indeli activelyvery engaged withclientsandpartners. overindustry thenextfive years, andweare already one ofthemosttransformational forces affecting our says: “We seetheimplementationofdigitalassetsas Nadine Chakar, headofStateStreet GlobalMarkets, agent. inted StateStreet asitsfundadministrator andtransfer Securities andExchange Commission(SEC), hasappo currentlyded fund(ETF) awaitingapproval by theUS The VanEck Bitcoin Trust, anewbitcoinexchange-tra- SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BITCOIN ›EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND ›PLANNED State Street (Mar. services 2021) VanEck‘sETF willbenefit firstbitcointrust from - - - managed by StateStreet. digital assetcustodian, andtheirtraditional assets for digitalassetsmanagedby , anindependent security tokens. Itenablesusers to combinereporting onotherdigitalassets,suchas be modified to report tocurrencies chosenfortheirliquidity. Itmay, however, holdings. - holdingsoftwocryp The pilotinitiallyreports Custody, scenariosonauser‘s thispilotrunsreporting development inthedigitalasset space.WithinGemini buildingongoing researchback-office and reporting, combines GeminiCustodyTM withStateStreet‘s have announced anewdigitalassetpilot. The pilot exchange andcustodian, andStateStreet Corporation Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini),acryptocurrency (Dec. 2019) Launches digitalassetpilotwithGemini Trust (SEE “FNALITY” SECTION P. 51) (Jun 2019) New Blockchain SettlementCoinConsortia ›DIGITAL ASSET ›PILOT ›CUSTODY, REPORTING

33 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT ally unlimitedpotential.” and tokenization.- The technologyhasvirtu of whatwecoulddowithdigitalassets “We have not even scratched thesurface Ralph Hamers,UBSGroup AG CEO, said: leading theway. across sixmajorindustries,withfinancials USD300–400billion nomic value worth 2027, blockchain willproduce annualeco- the digitalassetmarket, estimatingthatby UBS hasalready begunpositioningitselfin investment bankbasedinSwitzerland. UBS Group and AG isafinancialservices OVERVIEW 19. UBS — COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES Switzerland bonds betweenUBSandCommerzbank. German government bondsandabasket ofcorporate platform wasableto swapownershipofabasket of Using Clearstream Bankingasacustodian, the usingCordamanagement services DLT technology. established by R3, andprovided liquidityandcollateral was created incollaboration withfintechfirmHQLAX, DLT-enabled securitylendingplatform. The platform first transactions onDeutscheBoerseandHQLAX‘s Commerzbank, Credit Suisse,andUBScompletedthe expand accessinresponse to clientdemand. joining agrowing numberofUScorporations lookingto vide digitalcurrency investments to wealthycustomers, UBS Group AG isintheearlystagesofplanningto pro- SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›TRANSACTION ›BLOCKCHAIN ›COMPLETED (Dec 2019) HQLAX’s DLT-enabled securitylendingplatform UBS firsttransactions onDeutsche Boerse and ›DIGITAL ASSETS ›OFFERING ›PLANNED management (May 2021) UBS isexploringcrypto offering inwealth

bonds atEuroclear Bank. for theownershipofabasket ofGermangovernment of abasket ofcorporate bondsatClearstream Banking UBS andCredit Suisse. They exchanged theownership It alsocarriedoutacross-custodian swapbetween tees andinvoice fundingare provided. twoservices European banks’SMEclients.Bankpayment guaran- networkamong focuses onbuildingatrustworthy (SMEs) businessesto We.trade accesstheirservices. beginning ofOctober, allowingsmallandmid-sized UBS announcedthatitwentlive onwe.trade atthe Trade Finance(Oct2019) UBS GoesLive onWe.Trade Blockchain for (SEE “FNALITY” SECTION P. 51) (Jun 2019) New Blockchain SettlementCoinConsortia ›PLATFORM ›BLOCKCHAIN ›SMES ›ONGOING

34 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT a possible role as portfolio diversifiers.”a possiblerole asportfolio compression inpricevolatility,further and growth, industry thepotentialfor further term supplyanddemandtrends support deepening ofthemarket. We believe long- factors suggestfurther trends. Short-term breadth allowadditionalanalysisoftheir (as ofMay 7,2021),andthisdepth cies, with$ 2.4trillionincapitalization asset. There are over 9,000cryptocurren have evolved into aviableinvestment said, “We believe thatcryptocurrencies investment rationale forcryptocurrencies, Wells Fargo, onthe inaspecialreport opinion onthecryptocurrency market, an Despite priorreluctance to bringforth United States. corporationfinancial services basedinthe Wells Fargo &Companyisamultinational OVERVIEW 20. Wells Fargo — USA COMMERCIAL BANK INITIATIVES - and blockillegal transactions. works, suchasBinance andCircle, to helpthemdetect some oftheworld’s most extensive cryptocurrency net company isknown foritsanalysissoftware. Itprovides being exposedto cryptocurrencies. The London-based thathelpsbanks handletherisksof U.K. start-up Wells Fargo hasinvested $ 5millioninto Elliptic,a bank stated. even thenthrough professionally managedfunds,” the investment exposure onlyforqualifiedinvestors, and lity andviabilityasassets,buttherisksleadusto favor “WFII believes thatcryptocurrencies have gainedstabi run fund. investment forqualifiedinvestors inaprofessionally currencies” thatitseesdigitalassetsasanalternative study titled“Theinvestment justification forcrypto- The Wells Fargo Investment saidina Institute(WFII) digital currencies. latest move by amajorU.S.banktoward accepting ged cryptocurrency strategy foritswealthyclients,the tute plansto evaluate andonboard anactively mana Wells Fargo &Coannouncedthatitsinvestment insti SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›CRYPTO RISK MANAGEMENT ›STARTUP INVESTMENT ›COMPLETED Investment inElliptic (Feb 2020) ›CRYPTO ›INVESTMENT ›WEALTHY CLIENTS ›PLANNED strategy forwealthyclients(May 2021) Wells Fargo to onboard active cryptocurrency - - - - systems like SWIFT, Frazier said. five days aweek whenit relies onwire transfers and funds 20hoursaday, upfrom onlysixto ninehours, Using thedigitalcashwouldallowbankto move time andenergy and effort.” time there’s ittakes aconnectionwithexternalparties, Group atWells Fargo. “That’s along process, andevery other banks,” saidLisaFrazier, headoftheInnovation have to suchasSWIFT go through and third parties the world,andweneedto exchange currencies, we transfers inthefuture. “Whenwemove money across transfers were to betestedto expandto multi-currency is peggedto theUSdollar, wassetfor2020.Internal The pilotprogram forWells Fargo‘s ,which Launch ofastable-coin,Wells Fargo DigitalCash Private Bank Initiatives 36 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT organic, continuousgrowth. digitalization through innovations and thereby underliningtheclaimto increase currency trading to institutionalinvestors, assets, BankhausScheich,offers crypto- Unter itsbrand tradias -digitaltrading trading, andconsulting. for institutionalcustomers, salesand making, capitalmarkets, OTC bondtrading The owner-runbankoperates inmarket- (FWB). bank ontheFrankfurt Stock Exchange and istoday aleadingsecuritiestrading Bankhaus Scheichwasfoundedin1985 OVERVIEW 21. BankhausScheich — Germany PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES ted to digital assets. trusted “all-in-one” platformforallinvestor needsrela Scheich closerto itsvisionofproviding clients witha cipants. Offering crypto-asset trading bringsBankhaus enables in-custodyThe service trading betweenparti aims to expanditsoffering into securitytokens soon. covering cryptocurrencies suchasBitcoin,the bank assets targeting institutionalinvestors. Whileinitially launched afullycomplianttrading solutionforcrypto As thefirstprovider inGermany, Bankhaus Scheich DigitalVenturesStuttgart GmbH. ofblocknox ofBoerse the service GmbH,asubsidiary custody of cryptocurrencies, BankhausScheichuses are to follow, i.e.,Ethereum, Litecoin,andXRP. For the other cryptocurrencies tradable onthecrypto exchange ching withthetrading ofBitcoinagainstEuro. Soon, and sellingpricesasaliquidityprovider, initiallylaun BankhausScheichprovides buying tutional participant, Joining theBSDEXecosystemasfirstexternalinsti SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›TRADING ›CRYPTO ›INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS ›LIVE institutional investors (Aug 2020) Fully regulated trading ofcrypto assetsfor ›LIQUIDITY PROVIDER ›ECOSYSTEM ›CRYPTO ›LIVE of BSDEX(Oct2020) Bankhaus Scheichbecomesliquidityprovider - - - - Scheich. a security,” explainsBorisZiganke, CEOofBankhaus of assetsthatcouldnotpreviously besecuritized as more possibilitiesthantoday, such asthemapping tages. Inthelongterm,digitalsecuritiesoffer many already beusedinpractice andbringsmanyadvan- “Our pilotproject shows thatthetechnologycan investors. can befractionalized, reducing entrance barriersfor trades andenhancestransparency. Additionally, stocks the innovative approach enablesinstantsettlementof underlying traditional security. According to thebank, meaningtheir value ispegged to the certificate, The tokens have characteristics similarto atracker private placementwithselectinstitutionalinvestors. issued securitytokens representing aDAX titlein a In afirstpilottransaction ofitskind,BankhausScheich (Feb 2020) Issuance ofasset-linked token basedonDAX-stock ›ISSUANCE ›TOKEN ›COMPLETED 37 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT Heydt. the Executive Board atBankhausvon der says PhilippDoppelhammer, memberof regulatory oreven technicalconcerns,” today butare oftenstillreluctant dueto already dealingintensively withthetopic arethe future. Manymarket participants in will becomeincreasingly important “We are convinced thatdigitalassets new ground inthefinancialworld. chain technologyandthereby breaking offering suitebasedonblock afull-service in theGermandigitalassetsmarket, Today, von derHeydt isoneofthepioneers since 1754. oldest banksandhasbeeninoperation Bankhaus von derHeydt isoneofEurope’s OVERVIEW 22. Bankhausvon der Heydt — Germany PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES - infrastructure asaplugandplay solution. von derHeydt isproviding thetrading andcustody on real-time analyticsofblockchain usage.Bankhaus The assetmanagementapproach ofthisfundisbased of crypto assetsonthebasisofitsin-house analyses. achieve asuperiorrisk-return profile intheentire field ching itssecondblockchain fund,withwhichitaimsto investment fundmanager, thecompanyisalready laun registered by BaFin.AsaBaFin-registered alternative and hassetuponeofthefirsttwoblockchain funds intheblockchain sectormany years ofexpertise Immutable InsightCapitalManagementGmbHhas developed aninnovative investment opportunity. Immutable InsightCapitalManagementGmbHhave In thisregard, von derHeydt SAand AssetServicing question ofhowbestto invest inthisnewassetclass. popular. However, investors are always facedwiththe Investments in crypto assets are becoming increasingly SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›TRADING ›CUSTODY ›PARTNERSHIP play solutionforassetmanager(Apr 2021) Crypto trading withintegrated custody asaplugand - experience fortheir target investors. ment solutionsto create anend-to-end investment issuers canconnecttokenization, custody andsettle on Stellar. Viaamodularwhitelabeling approach, and enablesthetokenization ofvarious assetclasses is basedonBitbond’s establishedissuance technology tokens to institutionalandretail investors. The solution platform enablingcorporate issuersto offer security Bankhaus von derHeydt launchedatokenization Building onitslegacyintraditional securitization, investments. investors asinglepointofcontact fordigitalasset between thetwobanksaimsto provide institutional purely stored ontheblockchain. The collaboration IT systemsofthetwocredit institutionswithassets the firsttime,jointlydesignedsolutionconnects Vononia’s € 20milliontokenized bondissuance.For tokens forprivate bankM.M.Warburg of &COaspart Bankhaus von derHeydt provides custody ofsecurity institutional clients(Jan2021) Fully regulated custody ofsecurityassetsfor ›PLATFORM ›TOKENIZATION ›COMPLETED (Feb 2020) Tokenization forcorporate services issuers ›CUSTODY ›M.M. WARBURG & CO ›ONGOING

- 38 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT we are heading. uisite formassadoption,which isclearlywhere the end,thiscreates trust,andtrustistheprereq - act inalegallysecure way onthisnewsystem. In more andmore possibilitiesare beingcreated to nized by German legislators already andthat gladthatthishasbeenrecogsystem. Iamvery onto abetterandmore efficienttechnological simply mapevery existingandfuture assetclass longer beanassetclassintheirownrightbutwill disappear. Digitalassetswillthenbasicallyno traditional andnewformsofinvestment will increasingly blurred, andthedistinctionbetween In myopinion,theboundarieswillbecome industry. the banking,fund,andsecuritization with ademonstrated track record in an experiencedManagingDirector his thoughtsonthemarket. Heis BvdH, hasagreed to share withus Philipp Doppelhammer, COOof INTERVIEW achieve inthedigitalassets market? Which role/position isVon derHeydt aimingto capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe - here to helpthem. tize themselves assoon aspossible,andweare issuing houses. These providers willhave to digi This ranges from banksandbroker poolsto fund structures are stillsetupto alarge extenttoday. potential here ifyou lookathowtraditional sales our opinion,however, there isstillenormous mobile, andmore In cost-efficientservices. these newgenerations ofinvestors streamlined, players have recognized thisandare offering buy everything from theirprincipalbank.Many of investors are comingalongwhonolonger This issimplybecausenew, younger generations cantly andwillchangemuchmore inthefuture. cial investments hasalready changedsignifi The traditional distributionofassetsand finan crypto-based lendingproducts. forelectronicservices securitiesandstaking to includeinvestment brokerage andcustodian future, therange willbeexpanded ofservices by ourcustody andbrokerage solution.Inthe corresponding cashaccountsare complemented icates, andsecuritytokens wealready offer, the to theissuanceand structuring ofbonds,certif for digitalandtraditional securities.Inaddition tech-driven, one-stop-shop infrastructure provider Bankhaus von derHeydt positionsitselfas a topic indigitalassetsrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest - - - - 39 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT token offerings. cryptocurrencies onsecurity andadvisory digital assets,providing brokerage for intofuturum hasexpandeditsservices Following itsmerger withbitcoin.de, securities through market making. cement andthepromotion ofliquidity the implementationoftransactions, pla both equityanddebtproducts, including structuring ofcapitalmarket strategies for financing issues,thedevelopment and includes, amongotherthings,adviceon phases ofacompany‘s life cycle and bank’s istailored to all portfolio service accompany itsclientslongterm,futurum nies inthesmallandmid-capsegment. To focus oncapitalmarkets-oriented compa futurum bankisaninvestment bankwitha OVERVIEW 23. futurumbank — PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES - - for value-added expansion. provides BitcoinGroup SEwithadditionalopportunities bank AG goingforward. The expandingcustomer base Europe‘s largest crypto trading platformviafuturum of firms.Institutionalcustomers willaccessoneof and offers crypto custody to services alarge group Bitcoin NetworkSEtakes advantage ofthisopportunity services. futurum bankAG canprovide clientsabroad range of trading platformanddepository. From asinglesource, enhances BitcoinGroup SE‘s capabilities asabitcoin single businessalready regulated. This move further all regulatory licensedassetsheldby theGroup into a Following themerger, futurumbanknowcombines bank. has resulted intheformationofGermany‘s firstcrypto entire investment offuturum bankAG bankingservices of thecrypto businessdivisionofbitcoin.deandthe Bitcoin Deutschlandandfuturumbank. The merging Bitcoin Group successfullyconductedamerger of Germany SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES Closing ofthemerger withBitcoin.de(Oct 2020) for over ayear.” institutional clientsandHNWIs which hasbeenserving see agrowth ofourbrokerage deskforcrypto assets, the areas offamilyofficesandmid-market. There we bank currently 250-300institutionalclients from serves the largest customer groups inEurope, whilefuturum techstack.Withbitcoin.de,wealreadytary ownoneof required components,weoffer anestablished,proprie- licenses.Unlikenecessary otherproviders whobuyall ourselves asthefirst real crypto bank,includingall offuturumbank,weposition ment bankingservices together thebrand bitcoin.dewiththetraditional invest goal inthedigitalassetmarkets hesaid:“By bringing Moreover, answeringto thequestionaboutFuturum’s Director ofBitcoinGroup SE. Bitcoin Group SE,” says Marco Bodewein,Managing that thiswillresult insignificantgrowth impulsesfor tors viathenewlyformedfuturumbankAG. We expect use, willinthefuture alsobeopento institutionalinves which more than884,000private customers already features. Ourreliable andattractive portfolio, service are muchappreciated fortheirhighreturns andsafety outside theEuro andUSDollar&Co. Cryptocurrencies are lookingforprofitable investment opportunities bothprivate andinstitutional, “Market participants, - - 40 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT to themassmarket. customers, wecan offer ananswerwith access neck forSTOs — with upto 1millionpotential structure currently represents themain bottle tokens. marketThe lackofasecondary infra- tradingcan beusedforsecondary ofsecurity be ourproprietary trading marketplace, which is astrategic fieldforus. Thenext key driver will structuring andadvisory, hencethetopic ofSTOs investment for banking,weare astrong partner in Germany. SinceFuturum bankcomesfrom are currently thelargest digitalassetcustodian crypto assets.Dueto bitcoin.de’s track record we via futurumaspreferred institutionalbroker of bitcoin.de asleadingretail crypto marketplace, why weare positioningourselves directly — via into thetraditional worldoffinance,whichis innovative force ofdigitalassetsisexpanding fueled by regulation. Withregulatory clarity, the From ourperspective significant avery role, tokenized securities. marketenhancing thesecondary for landscape inEurope andhisplansfor pective onthedigitalassetbanking of futurumbankAG, shared hispers Marco Bodewein,Executive Officer INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole will digitalassetsplay inthe - ­ traditional financeordigitalassets. one stop shopforcapital markets, whetherin of ourclients.Ourgoal:continuelegacyas finance, nowalsoviaDeFi, to meetthe demand incorporate fordigitalassetsandexpert partner will continueto positionourselves asacontact will develop here beyond thecrypto niche.We are strapped too tightly, noreasonable market that hedoesn’t overshoot — if theguard rails legislation, nowtheregulator hasto make sure We are already ontherighttrack withcurrent the regulator doesandwhatisstillto come. DeFi ishere to stay. Here wehave to seewhat topic indigital assetsinrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest 41 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT nal andsemi-institutional investors. are aimedat The fundtargets institutio capitalization and otherparameters and are allocatedbasedoncurrent market sive investment approach. Crypto values rency market. The fundfollowsapas I aimsto cover 85 %ofthecryptocur Hauck &Aufhäuser’s DigitalAssetFund 24. Hauck&Aufhäuser — SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES ›INSTITUTIONAL AND SEMI-INSTITUTIONAL ›CUSTODY ›CRYPTOCURRENCIES tion withKapilendo(Dec2020) Launch ofacrypto fundincollabora- of digitalassets. expansion ofofferings to includethecutting-edgeandforward-thinking aspect (KVG). This isasignificantstepforward division‘s intheAssetServicing the mandatory BaFinlicenseasaregistered capitalmanagementcompany company forGermany’s digitalassets.InSeptember2020,thefirmobtained They foundedHauck&Aufhäuser Innovative Capital(HAIC), aninvestment Hauck &Aufhäuser Privatbankiers AG isaprivate bankbasedinFrankfurt. INVESTORS ›ONGOING OVERVIEW

- - - Germany Hauck & Aufhäuser. “ quality standards andhighdemandsof established one that Meetsthehigh- new crypto assetclass, includingthe inexpensive andsecure accessto the ment vehicle thatgives ourcustomers we have created aninnovative invest of ourfirstcrypto fund,Kapilendo and institutional investors. Withthelaunch becoming increasingly attractive among digital assetsandcryptocurrencies are ber HolgerSepp:“We are seeingthat in Germany, according to board mem- Institutional interest incrypto isgrowing - digital assets services usingSEBA’sdigital assetsservices clients booked inSwitzerland to select in Switzerland. Julius Baer now offers its asoneofthefirstcrypto banks FINMA last year, SEBAreceived alicensefrom to arange InAugust ofnew services. digital assetsto give itsclientsaccess ced cooperation withSEBABankAG in In February 2019,JuliusBaer announ 25. JuliusBaer — SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›SWISS CLIENTS ›LIVE ›DIGITAL ASSETS SERVICES ›CUSTODY tion available to thebenefitofourclients.” in thearea ofdigital assets andourdedicationto makingpioneeringinnova - are proofSEBA aswellourstrong ofJuliusBaer’s partnership engagement folio,” saidPeter Gerlach,HeadMarkets atJuliusBaer. “Theinvestment into assets willbecomealegitimate,sustainableassetclassofaninv private bankingcorporation. “At JuliusBaer, weare convincedthatdigital Julius BärGroup AG, knownalternatively asJuliusBaerGroup Ltdageneralist with SEBA(Jan2020) incollaborationDigital assetsservices OVERVIEW Switzerland

- reliability. their tradeability, security, andtechnical currencies thathave beenchosenfor access to alimitednumberof crypto- and digitalassets. The Bankcanprovide overviews forboth traditional portfolio solutions, aswellconsolidated such assecure storage andtransaction offering to includedigitalassetservices Julius Baerhasbroadened itsservice and capabilities. innovative andcutting-edgeplatform est or’s- port 42 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT other digitalassets(tokens).” custody ofcryptocurrencies aswell ted crypto desk.“to offer thetrading and secured licenseforitsdedica aFINMA Maerki Baumannannouncedthat ithad 26. MaerkiBaumann&Co — SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES ›TRADING ›CUSTODY ›ONGOING desk andcustody (Jun2020) services Launch ofacryptocurrency trading offering. the traditional andthenewwithitsmodularinvestment approach andcrypto of independence,security, andtransparency. Itemphasizes itsgoalofmerging ding capitalbasisandtransparent reflect performance itsinvestment strategy a long-termoutlookandsolelyoperates inSwitzerland. The bank‘s outstan which isopento moderntechnologies,isaprivately heldfamilybusinesswith toring services independentasset managerssince1932. The traditional bank, andassetmanagement offecapabilities ofinvestment services advisory - Maerki Baumann&Co.AG, aZurich-based private bank,focusesonitscore OVERVIEW - noting thatthecompany‘s trading plat and custody to itsclients.It‘s worth begin offering cryptocurrency trading With thisnewlicense,thebankwill Litecoin (LTC) andRipple(XRP). Bitcoin cash(BCH),Ethereum (ETH), cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin(BTC), initially offer to trade intheprincipal the bankexplained:“MaerkiBaumwill ERC20tokens; form willalsosupport Switzerland - - processing. quick, effective, andsafe real-time through theStellar blockchain enables MMWarburg, thedigitalimplementation with athree-year term.According to The total contract value is€ 20million, the GermanDAX companyVonovia. via thedigitalmarketplace firstwire by bond investment. Itwasdistributed MMWarburg &COhasrealized adigital 27. M.M.Warburg &Co — SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›BOND ›INSTITUTIONAL AND similar issuesfrom well-knowncompaniessoon.”. actions. Schmidtsays: “We expectasignificant increase in thenumberof attractive andinteresting forinvestors to invest inblockchain-based trans and increases efficiency. ”Theseadvantages wouldmake it particularly the assetcanbetransferred withinseconds. This minimizes operational risk Income atMMWarburg &CO, adds:“WiththeStellarblockchain technology, financial products andservices.” J.SaschaSchmidt,Head of FXandFixed “Tokenization willsignificantlyexpandandstructurally changethe range of Joachim Olearius,spokesman fortheWarburg said: Bankpartners in Hamburg. Following Vonovia”s tokenized bondissuanceinearly2021, M.M.Warburg &CoKGaA isaGermanindependentprivate bankbased (Jan 2021) Investment inVonovia digitalbond SEMI-INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS ›ONGOING OVERVIEW

Germany ourselves faster, easier, andcheaper.” innovative transactions, wecanfinance that wantto raise liquidity. [...]withsuch decisive advantages forcompanies of Vonovia, saying: “There are also situation, withHelenevon Roeder, CFO This transaction isseenasawin-win

­ 43 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT examples.” Square, andFacebook are justafew that appealto ordinary consumers.PayPal, with convenient anduser-friendlyofferings brands are to trying easeaccessto crypto system. We seethatmore andmore global vider fortheEuropean digitalasseteco to becometheleadinginfrastructure pro- bank’s positioning:“We commitourselves assets ofSolarisbanksaidaboutthe Julian Grigo,managingdirector ofdigital German bankinglicense. The Berlin-basedventure holdsafull including custody, brokerage andbanking. the bankoffers API-basedcrypto services, SolarisDigitalAssets, Via itssubsidiary own bankingproducts. enabling fintechcompanies to buildtheir platformwithwhite-labeltech Service” Solarisbank operates a“Banking-as-a- OVERVIEW 28. Solarisbank — PRIVATE BANK INITIATIVES - Germany Curv toCurv ensure secure key management. Assets isworking withIsraeli technologycompany actions andtransfers. Underthehood,SolarisDigital addition, the collaboration increases the speed of trans can make iteasierfornewcustomers to getstarted.” In tocurrencies: “Byintegrating thecustody solution,we customers whohave- hadlittleexperiencewithcryp especiallyfor the benefitsofdeepenedpartnership Benjamin Jones,CEOandco-founder ofBitwala,sees custody solutionforthestorage ofBitcoin andEther. consumer fintechNURI by providing itswhite-label withBerlin-based Solarisbank expandsitspartnership cryptocurrencies.” swap orexchange theirfiatmoney to bitcoinorother store crypto andwiththebrokerage API,they can B2B customers willbeableto getabankaccount, managing director atSolarisbankDigitalAssets:“Our settlement viaawhite-labelapproach. JulianGrigo, clients to offer fiat-to-crypto trading andinstant adding abrokerage andtrading API. This willenable broadens offering itsservice by Solarisbank further After establishingitsdigitalassetcustody solution, SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES ›CUSTODY ›NURI ›COMPLETED forNURI(formerlyBitwala)(Nov 2020) services Solarisbank providesasset white-labeldigital custody ›CUSTODY ›TRADING ›CRYPTO ›LIVE (Feb 2021) Solarisbank launcheslicensedcrypto brokerage - 44 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT be printedatwill by central banks. diluted aseasily asthatoffiatmoney, which can effect — and thevalue ofscarce assetscannot be of itseconomicvalue through ascarcitypart finite resources like gold,Bitcoinalsoacquires uncertainty, intimesofcrisis.Akinto particularly that hedgesagainstinflation and economic it isnotusedascurrency butasareserve asset many similaritieswithprecious metal.Like gold, Often describedasdigitalgold,Bitcoinshares of whatisto come. its earlydays, theriseofBitcoingives usataste ability to trade shares ontheblockchain isstillin may notyet beableto tokenize ourflatsandthe replacing traditional assetsaltogether. Whilewe asset classoftheirownandare ontheirway to Digital assetsare establishing themselves asan head. services Bitkom asthedigitalbank&financial Solarisbank, Mr. Grigoworked at the digitalassetmarket. Priorto agreed to share histhoughtson digital assetsofSolarisbank,has Julian Grigo,managingdirector of INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe

provider to tokenize and safely store such assets. the proper regulatory framework andtechnology of if,butwhenthiswillhappen.Allyou needis equity, debt,andreal estate.Itisnotaquestion the tokenization ofothertraditional assetslike same advantages canalsobereaped from faster thangold-atafraction ofthecost. The far more liquidandcanbetransacted infinitely gold. Divisibleby eightdecimalplaces,Bitcoinis However, Bitcoinhasmultipleadvantages over user experience withmaximumsecurity. the onethatbestmanagesto square aseamless tables. The winnerofthisrace willultimatelybe crypto bankingbrand Bitwalaare turningthe younger challengerssuchasGermany’s flagship adopters like Revolut but have madeaheadstart, mobile bankingmarket to winmarket share. Early key differentiator inanincreasingly competitive A user-friendlycrypto offering canbecomea ties gleamingatthehorizon forcrypto adopters. new revenue streams are justafew oftheboun touchpoints increased customer stickiness,and crypto bankingexperience.Aboostincustomer European neobanksandneobrokers forthebest One fascinatingdevelopment istherace ofthe topic indigitalassetsrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest - Exchanges, Platforms and Collaborations 46 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT to institutionalcustomers. would beoffering crypto custody services their assetcustody Blocknox subsidiary In February 2020,they announced that Holdings. Group, Axel Springer, finanzen.net, andSBI of thisjointventure are Börse Stuttgart This jointventure andtheshareholders DigitalExchange GmbH. Boerse Stuttgart regularity. The technicaloperator isthe own market organization andmonitors its BWWB GmbHregulates trading withits the (public-law)stock exchange. which alsoactsasaholdingcompanyof GmbH(BWWBGmbH), Wertpapierbörse rated by theBaden-Württembergische (Bitcoin, Litecoin,Ethereum, XRP)ope It isaplatformto trade cryptocurrencies OVERVIEW 29. Börse Stuttgart DigitalExchange — 29. BörseStuttgart EXCHANGES, PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS - hope. Butover thelongterm, efficiencygainsof year, awideadoptionmay take longerthansomemay act lastyear, whichhopefully willcomeinto lawthis investments. Withthedraft oftheelectronic securities to traditional financialproducts aswellalternative will bethedigitalizationofassets, bothwithregard cryptocurrencies are notgoingaway. Secondly, there private andinstitutionalinvestors. Justlike theinternet, currency andinflation hedgesimilar to gold by both see happeningistheadoptionofBitcoinasareserve impact onthefinancialmarket. Firstly, whatwealready of distributedledgertechnologywillhave amassive I personallybelieve thatdigitalassetsandtheusage digital businessatM.MWarburg. sible forthedevelopment ofthe strategies andoffers. Hewasrespon M.M Warburg &Coasheadofdigital Mr. Kühne worked 12years at market. Priorto joiningBSDEX, his thoughtsonthedigitalasset ship atBSDEX,hasagreed to share Jan Kühne, B2BsalesandPartner INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe Germany ­ - offers little. very staking, precisely where thefinancialmarket currently And itpaves theway to new businessmodelssuchas promising vehicle fortheacquisitionofnewcustomers. relationship are destinedto tapdemand.Itis the most is immense.Offers withinanestablished customer on theopportunity. Andrightlyso.Customer interest banks. You feel theFear canvirtually OfMissingOut are thetopic thatdrives institutionalinvestors and am, butitwilltake time.Currently, cryptocurrencies In 2020everybody was enthusedaboutSTOs. Istill scale. digital assetsare already inplace,reliable, andbuiltto fortradingfor digitalassets.Services andcustody of with itBSDEXare buildinganend-to-end ecosystem As apioneerinGermany, Group and BörseStuttgart tralized DeFi. finance,orinshort, potential fordisruptionlies,istheemergence ofdecen formation. Thirdly, andthisiswhere maybe thehighest digital assetsare too compellingto hinderthattrans topic indigitalassetsrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest digital assetsmarket? Which role/position isBSDEXaimingto achieve inthe - - 47 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT via blockchain. that canbesettledeithertraditionally or ted inapurely digital,streamlined process Transactions ontheplatformare conduc- investors. corporations together withinstitutional brings large mid-sized companiesand market withanindependentplatformthat vides theinternationalprivate-placement The Cologne-basedfintechcompanypro- debt financing. firstwire isaweb-basedmarketplace for OVERVIEW 30. firstwire — Germany EXCHANGES, PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS € 50 millioninSeptember2019. marketplace to self-arrange apromissory noteof action standard.” Vonovia hadalready usedthefirstwire in real time,whichguarantees aprofessional trans in thefuture. Issuancesare transparent andtraceable that itwillplay asignificant role inthecapitalmarket nology to gainexperiencewithit.It’s easyto imagine Officer of Vonovia. “We want to testoutthenew tech efficiently,” says Helene von Roeder, ChiefFinancial finance ourselves faster, more easilyandmore cost to“Digitalization provides uswiththe opportunity security tokens. Bankhaus von derHeydt ascustodian served ofthe vate bankMMWarburg fullysubscribedto theissuance, corporate bondontheStellarblockchain. Germanpri marketplace firstwire to issueitsfirstfully tokenized German DAX 30company Vonovia usedtheonline DEFINING TRANSACTIONS ›BLOCKCHAIN ›BOND ›CORPORATE ›COMPLETED firstwire’s debtmarketplace (Sep2020) Vonovia issues€ 20milliontokenized bondvia

- - -

48 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT be appliedto onalarge scale. becoming lessrelevant andthetechnologycan are small,itmeans thattransaction costsare for producing andtransferring digitalassets carrier suchastokens. Sincethemarginal costs made accessibleandtransferable through digital by central banksandtraditional assetswillbe digital currencies supported willevolve further capital markets thatweknowasoftoday, But digitalassetswillalsotransform traditional not exist — trulydigitalassetsare natively digital. of newassetsthatwithoutdigitalizationwould pivotal to capitalmarkets. Itallowsthecreation I strongly believe thatdigitalassetswillbe his thoughtsonthemarket. firstwire hasagreed to share withus Michael Dreiner, founder, andCEOof INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole will digitalassetsplay inthe processes withhighefficiencies. apply newtechnologiesstreamlining issuance milestone facilitatingthelegalframework to security lawinGermanywhichisamajor road. Mostrecently, is theelectronic itcertainly and efficiency, butthisissomewhatdownthe standardization allowsforscalingtechnology Currency andwhichprotocol isbeing applied- On theonehanditisCentral BankDigital central role infacilitating this. debt transactions. Digitalassetsare playing a offers afullydigitalmarketplace forinstitutional firstwire decentralizes debtcapitalmarkets and topic indigital assetsinrelation to banking? From your perspective, whatiscurrently thehottest the digitalassetsmarket? Which role/position isfirstwire aiming to achieve in 49 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT out entirely digitallyviatheplatform. canbecarried and creation ofcertificates, process, includingbusinessconfirmation All stepsofapromissory noteprocessing dwpbank, Helaba,andDekaBank. Finledger isajointproject by DZ BANK, OVERVIEW 31. Finledger — Germany EXCHANGES, PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS we canuseiteven more intensively inthefuture.” withblockchain technologyandto findouthow further to familiariseourselves This opensuptheopportunity on ourownfinledgercomponentsin IT landscape. of ManagementatNRW.BANK. “We cannow fallback sector, ”says MichaelStölting, memberofthe Board abreast oftechnologicaldevelopments inthebanking loan viafinledgerisanotherlogicalstepforus to keep handling ofthefirstownissueapromissory note “Blockchain isthesecure technologyofthefuture. The finledger platform. legally secure mannerusingtheblockchain-based its promissory noteloan(SSD)inawhollydigitaland NRW.BANK wasthefirstdevelopment bank to issue DEFINING TRANSACTIONS ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LOAN ›CORPORATE ›COMPLETED using Finledger(Sep2020) NRW.BANK issuanceofitspromissory noteloanon allows themto reach awiderange ofcounterparties. noteloansandaninter-institutionalplatformthat sory a market standard forthedigitalprocessing ofpromis- ted. For thefirsttime,fourbankshave established available to otherbanksafterthepilotphaseiscomple finledger inatrialproject. Theplatformwillbemade through thenewlydeveloped Blockchain platform completed theissuanceofapromissory noteloan using only digital methods. The four banks successfully cessfully processed the issueofpromissory noteloans DekaBank, dwpbank,DZ BANK,andHelabahassuc For thefirsttime,across-institutional teamof (May 2019) processing ofpromissory noteloansforthefirsttime Finledger, ablockchain platform,enablesfullydigital ›BLOCKCHAIN ›LOAN ›CORPORATE ›COMPLETED - - 50 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT building messagesystems withdata validations so manyyears asadeveloper myself:Iwas to say this because I’ve worked onthemfor systems.It’sthem “legacy” kindof hard forme the current systems.Somepeoplealready call systems worldwide;they willinevitably surpass on thedigitalassetgeneration offinancial job. Butthere are somany developers working over decades,andyes, they doapretty good systems, yet, becausethey’ve beenoptimized much pressure to migrate away from ourcurrent tional assets.Here inGermany, wedon’t have digitalassetswillreplaceinstead of“if” tradi- obvious. Soforme,theonlyquestionis“when” system complexityandtransparency are that theadvantages ofdigitalassetsregarding capital markets islimited.However, Iguess technical background, andmyknowledgeabout First ofall,Ihave to pointoutthatIhave amostly on themarket. agreed to share withushisthoughts Thorsten Hirschfrom DZ Bank has INTERVIEW capital markets oftomorrow? In your view, whatrole willdigitalassetsplay inthe boots andallregarding digitalization. Volksbanken andRaiffeisenbanken to jump in executives, stableprofits, and demandfrom significantly over thelast years due to younger technology. However, thesituationhaschanged with thestrategy ofbeingalateadopterfornew has traditionally beenarather conservative role the Volksbanken andRaiffeisenbanken. This inthe cooperativeservices bankingsector for DZ BANK’s jobisto provide mostimportant their triumphisinevitable. tages compared to theoldfinancialsystems, dations ofdigitalassetshave somanyadvan- based onCryptoPunks. The technologicalfoun contracts -thinkofPunkBodies,whichis smart composing existingprojects orassetswithnew assets indistributedsystemslike extendingor the beginningto seethepossibilitiesofdigital digital assets.Butthere’s more: we’re onlyat that mostofthemare obsoleteintheworldof maintain andinherently buggy. It’s agoodthing cated systems,andasaresult, they are hard to most ofthesethingshave grown to over-compli tracking systemsandreconciliation But services. “exactly-once aswellauditabledata delivery” in and transformations, puttingmucheffort digital assetsmarket? Which role/position isBSDEXaimingto achieve inthe - - term. and I’d love to seeitbeing successful inthelong case ofadispute. It’s efficient solution, avery onlyneedstothat UMA knowmarket datain from it. Thus Iwasoverwhelmed whenIlearned decentralized architecture insteadofprofiting off-chain componentsislike workingagainstthe the newworld.Especiallyrelying onmultiple is rather acompromise in-betweentheoldand opinion isthatthecurrent stateofthisproject automatism ofsaidpapercontract. Mypersonal on paper, thusdegrading theDLT software to the framework witheffective termsandconditions the valuation. We’ve also developed alegal oracle formarket dataandanotheroracle for chosen arather traditional approach withan on DLT here atDZ BANKaswell,butwe’ve We’ve aproject to implementderivatives started Definitely UMA‘s ideaoforacle-less derivatives. banking? hottest topic indigitalassetsrelation to From your perspective, whatiscurrently the technologies. as well,to becomeanearlyadopterinselected forDZthis isanexcellent BANK, opportunity region, andIthink intheirparticular cial startups withfinan Some ofthemare already partnering department to keepdepartment upwithournewrole. Recently wehave created manynewjobsintheIT - 51 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT finality. to settletokenized transactions with digital cashassetthatcouldbeused main goalwasto create apeer-to-peer Settlement Coin(USC) project, andits The project wasdubbedtheUtility lenges intheprocess. hoped to solve manyoftheIMF‘s chal using tokenized assets.It monetary may beusedto settlesecurities trades Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) interested inseeinghowBlockchain and include agroup offinancialinstitutions markets. Withtime,theinitiative grew to technology (DLT) couldaffect financial understand howdistributedledger a pure research initiative to better outas Fnality Internationalstarted 32. Fnality — EXCHANGES, PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS ›SETTLEMENT ›LIVE ›CONSORTIUM ›BLOCKCHAIN (Jun2019) consortium New blockchain settlement UK

- Corporation, and UBS. Banking Corporation, State Street MUFG Bank,Nasdaq, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Group, MizuhoFinancialGroup, Credit Suisse,ING,KBCGroup, Lloyds Mellon, Barclays, CIBC,Commerzbank, as shareholders: BancoSantander, BNY Fnality nowboasts15majorinstitutions enable ‘on-chain payment (Fnality). construct theinfrastructure thatwould formation ofFnalityInternational to help membersinvested inthe the consortium theoretically andtechnicallyfeasible, After proving thatthesegoalswere same way they canwithfiatcurrency. inthe that bankscouldrely onitsworth tained inacentral bankaccountassures A digitalrepresentation ofmoney main • • The payment methodhadto be:

settlement. orDvPfinancialtransactionfor PvP numerous businesssystems,whether Capable ofcollaborating across more efficiently. to helpmanagefragmented liquidity Available inavariety ofcurrencies - using ashared algorithm. detection ofnon-matching transactions zing DLT inItalyallowsfortheautomatic interbank reconciliation procedure utili The installationofablockchain-based recorded inthecorrespondent account. that needto bevalidated before being handle thefailedtransactions orthose automatic matching,theoperators bookkeeping.ble-entry Following the to resolve anydiscrepancies indou of bilateral accountsby backoffices Spunta focusesonthereconciliation interbank reconciliation process. match rate of97.6 %,revolutionizing the the firstsixmonths,withanautomated processed 204milliontransactions in banks are usingthesystem. They representing 91percent ofthecountry‘s Association. Over 100Italianbanks, and ismanagedby ABIItalianBanking Corda NTT Enterpriseby SIA, Data, Spunta BancaDLT systembuilton 33. Spunta — ›RECONCILIATION PROCESS ›LIVE ›PLATFORM ›BLOCKCHAIN DLT platform(Apr 2020) Italian banksgolive onSpuntaBanca Italy

- - an imbalance. nications andprocesses intheevent of and integrated managementofcommu- banks; actions betweencounterparty for symmetricalreconciliation oftrans than monthlyreconciliation; shared rules management offlowswithdaily rather tions, includingthecounterparty‘s; rapid ples callforfullvisibilityofalltransac- result, thenewSpuntaproject‘s princi involved. Asa between theparties comprehensive viewofthetransactions single communicationchannelanda ization ofboththeprocess andthe itresultsFurthermore, inthestandard- - - 52 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT chain experts Daniel Andemeskel and chain experts sell tokens. “Theteam around our block use thisplatform to issue,manage and Asset managers and fundinitiators can all ononeplatform. them to reporting, structures (STOs) andadministering onboarding to issuingtoken-based the investment process, from customer maps allofthesignificantstages of solution. For thefirsttime, it digitally Enlyte provides acompletewhite-label 34. Universal-Investment /Enlyte — SELECTION OF DIGITAL ASSETS INITIATIVES EXCHANGES, PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS ›PLATFORM ›DIGITAL ASSETS ›COMPLETED digital assets(Enlyte)(Feb 2020) Launch ofaninvestment platformfor to institutionalclients. provides aproprietary investment platformfordigitalassetscatering group istappinginto digitalassetsmarkets. The group’s subsidiary forms forinstitutionalinvestors. With EnlytetheUniversal-Investment firm isalsooneofthelargest independentfundadministration plat investment firmsandproviders ofprivate labelfundsinGermany. The Frankfurt-based Universal-Investment Group isoneofthe leading OVERVIEW - also lookingatacquisitions to comple the regulatory framework allows. We are digital fundsinthefuture, assoon “Weservicing: willthusbeableto offer tokenization andto offer related fund platform isplanningto expandinto fund In 2021,Reinhard announced thatthe CEO oftheUniversal Investment Group. success story ”,says MichaelReinhard, logical continuationofourinnovation in aproprietary manner. Enlyteisthe Khai UyPhamdeveloped thetechnology ment ourservices”. Germany - - 35. We.Trade — Rabobank, Santander, SociétéGénérale, UBSandUniCredit CaixaBank, DeutscheBank,ErsteGroup, HSBC,KBC,Natixis,Nordea, are abeneficiary. seller‘s bankprovides financing by discountingtheBPUofwhichthey pay theinvoice by thematuritydate,andBPUfinancing,inwhich which thebuyer‘s bankgives theselleranirrevocable to undertaking through (BPU),in theplatform,suchasBankPayment Undertaking providedCompanies canalsoaccessfinancialservices by theirbanks from order creation to payment execution. into transaction and shipmentstatusdigitizingtheentire process new commercial relationships whilealsoproviding completevisibility those intheSMEsector, to form counterparties to findtrustworthy sellers to trade globally. We.trade enablesbusinesses, particularly We.trade isadigitalplatformthatmakes iteasierforbuyers and OVERVIEW List ofmembers: Germany Bitbond provides bank-grade blockchain technology for tokeniza- About tion and digital asset custody to financial institutions dramatically Bitbond improving the issuance, settlement and custody of securities.

Bitbond’s whitelable Software-as-a- Service (SaaS) platform is in use by OUR SOFTWARE IS TAILORED FOR REGULATED CLIENTS partner banks and financial institutions • Tokenization, custody and post-trade tech for financial assets globally. • Compliant with IT compliance regulations • White-label SaaS solution Founded in 2013, the Berlin-based • Trusted by banks company has 8 years of experience in building blockchain applications in finance. Bitbond successfully conducted Germany’s first Security T O T A L DIGITAL ASSETS UNDER END USERS ISSUANCE CUSTODY O F Token Offering (STO) in 2019 with a VOLUME AT OUR CLIENTS BITBOND TECH BaFin approved prospectus. € 180 M € 300 M 4,000+

Radoslav Albrecht Felix Stremmer Founder & CEO COO [email protected] [email protected] 54 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT transfer-poc. securities-services-partners-curv-on-digital-asset- www.finextra.com/pressarticle/84399/bnp-paribas- 2020, Digital Asset Transfer PoC.” Finextra Research, 6Oct. on Curv Partners “BNP Paribas SecuritiesServices trade-and-settlement-apps. services-joins-forces-with-digital-asset-to-develop-dlt- securities.cib.bnpparibas/bnp-paribas-securities- 14Apr.Services, 2021, Develop DLT Trade andSettlementApps.” Securities Beapi. “BNP Paribas Joins Forces with Digital Asset to 150-million-in-propel-venture-partners. www.bbva.com/en/bbva-to-invest-as-much-as- BBVA, 2Feb. 2021, as $ 150MillioninPropel Venture Partners.” NEWS Sara González.“BBVAMartínez, to Invest asMuch switzerland. cial-solution-for-the-trading-and-custody-of-bitcoin-in- www.bbva.com/en/bbva-launches-its-first-commer Bitcoin inSwitzerland.” NEWSBBVA, 9Dec.2020, Commercial Solutionforthe Trading andCustody of González, Carlota.“BBVA LaunchesItsFirst rency-trading-custody-regulatory-approval. news.bitcoin.com/2-swiss-banks-launch-cryptocur Approval.” BitcoinNews,18June2020, Trading andCustody AfterGainingRegulatory Helms, Kevin. “2SwissBanksLaunchCryptocurrency central-bank-token-blockchain. www..com/fnality-utility-settlement-coin- CoinDesk, 11Apr. 2020, Expansive VisionforInterbankBlockchains.” Allison, Ian.“14Banks,5 Tokens: InsideFnality’s banks-go-live-on-spunta-blockchain. www.finextra.com/pressarticle/84485/100-italian- Blockchain.” Finextra Research, 13Oct.2020, Editorial Team. “100ItalianBanksGoLive onSpunta SOURCES - - we-trade-blockchain-for-trade-finance. www.coindesk.com/banking-giant-ubs-goes-live-on- Blockchain for Trade Finance.” CoinDesk, 9 Oct.2019, “Banking GiantUBSGoes Live onWe.Trade heydt-custodies-warburgs-digital-assets. digital-assets-custody.com/de/bankhaus-von-der- assets.” DigitalAssets Custody, 28Jan.2021, “Bankhaus von derHeydt custodies Warburg’s digital patent-for-settlement-system-citing-ripple. cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of-america-files- July 2019, Settlement SystemCiting‘Ripple.’” Cointelegraph, 21 Zmudzinski, Adrian.“BankofAmericaFilesPatent for patent-for-multi-tiered-digital-currency-wallet. cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of-america-files- 2019, Tiered DigitalCurrency Wallet.” Cointelegraph, 19Aug. Boddy, Max.“BankofAmericaFilesPatent forMulti- scheich-als-liquiditaetsspender-an. www.bankhaus-scheich.de/bsdex-bindet-bankhaus- Bankhaus Scheich,19Oct.2020, Scheich. “BSDEXbindetalsLiquiditätsspenderan.” services. tody%20and%20other%20investment%20 leveraging%20advanced%20solutions%20such,cus assets%2C%22%20said%20Demissie.&text=By%20 Digital%20Assets%20unit%20plans,digital%20 tal-platform-130169.html#:%7E:text=%22The%20 unit-to-build-industrypercent27s-first-multi-asset-digi press-release/bny-mellon-forms-new-digital-assets- www.bnymellon.com/us/en/about-us/newsroom/ Mellon, 11Feb. 2021, Industry’s FirstMulti-AssetDigitalPlatform.” BNY “BNY MellonForms NewDigitalAssetsUnitto Build tal-platform-130169.html. unit-to-build-industrypercent27s-first-multi-asset-digi press-release/bny-mellon-forms-new-digital-assets- www.bnymellon.com/us/en/about-us/newsroom/ BNY Mellon,11Feb. 2021, - - - verwahrung-von-bitcoin-und-co-auf-solarisbank. de.cointelegraph.com/news/bitwala-setzt-fur-krypto- Solarisbank.” Cointelegraph, 22Nov. 2020, Kryptoverwahrung von BitcoinundCo.auf Kasanmascheff, Markus.“Bitwalasetztfür blockchain-al-sector-bancario. nal-se-asocian-para-llevar-la-interoperabilidad-del- cryptoplaza.es/bitpanda-y-raiffeisen-bank-internatio chain alsector bancario.” Crypto Plaza,22Oct.2020, se asocianpara llevar lainteroperabilidad delblock Redaccion. “BitpandayRaiffeisen BankInternational AG-into-Germany-s-first-31589033. merger-of-Bitcoin-Deutschland-AG-with-futurum-bank- GROUP-SE-31516053/news/Bitcoin-nbsp-completes- www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BITCOIN- Https://Www.Marketscreener.Com/, 22Oct.2020, Germany’s FirstCrypto Bank.” Bitcoin DeutschlandAG withFuturum BankAG into MarketScreener. “Bitcoin:CompletesMerger of oldest-bank-bny-mellon-11613044810. www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-to-come-to-america-s- Bank, BNY Mellon.” WSJ,12Feb. 2021, Baer, Justin.“Bitcointo Cometo America’s Oldest bitbond-and-bankhaus-von-der-heydt-issue-stablecoin. www.finextra.com/pressarticle/85403/ Stablecoin.” Finextra Research, 9Dec.2020, “Bitbond andBankhausvon DerHeydt Issue stellar-network?locale=en. haus-von-der-heydt-issue-euro-stablecoin-eurb-on-the- www.stellar.org/press-releases/bitbond-and-bank Release.” Stellar.Org, 9Dec.2020, Stablecoin (EURB)ontheStellarNetwork-SDFPress “Bitbond andBankhausvon DerHeydt IssueEuro www.solarisdigitalassets.com/en. Pioneer.” SolarisDigitalAssets,2021, Solaris DigitalAssets.“BecomeaAsset - - - presse_archiv_detail_19_01_79242.html. pressemitteilungen/archiv1/2019/quartal_19_01/ www.commerzbank.de/de/hauptnavigation/presse/ 19 Apr. 2021, AG -Pressemitteilung.” (c) 2021 CommerzbankAG, Felsing, CommerzbankMichaela.“Commerzbank presse_archiv_detail_19_01_79306.html. pressemitteilungen/archiv1/2019/quartal_19_01/ www.commerzbank.de/de/hauptnavigation/presse/ Commerzbank AG, 19Apr. 2021, “Commerzbank AG -Pressemitteilung.” (c)2021 presse_archiv_detail_21_02_96394.html. pressemitteilungen/archiv1/2021/2__quartal/ www.commerzbank.de/en/hauptnavigation/presse/ Release.” (C) 2021CommerzbankAG, 4Dec.2020, Nebel, CommerzbankErik.“CommerzbankAG -Press 1mb3ItY3J5cHRvLWFzc2V0cw==. nMtcy1wLXRvLWZ1bmQtc29mdHdhcmUtZmlybS- XMvMjAyMC0xMi0xMC9zdGF0ZS1zdHJlZXQtam9pb 6b3dcdc99235&url=L25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZ id=e6b17d10-d26a-11eb-baa7- www.bloomberg.com/tosv2.html?vid=&uu- 2020, “Bloomberg -Are You aRobot?”Bloomberg, 10Dec. with-no-strings-attached_82zumb2qr_e.html. www.lbbw.de/articlepage/press-release/blockchain- Strings Attached.” LBBWWebspace, 19Feb. 2019, “BlockchainLandesbank Baden-Württemberg. withNo with-no-strings-attached_82zumb2qr_e.html. www.lbbw.de/articlepage/press-release/blockchain- Webspace, 19Feb. 2019, “Blockchain withNoStringsAttached.” LBBW www.jpmorgan.com/insights/technology/blockchain. 2020, “Blockchain CenterofExcellence.” Jpmorgan.Com, - - 55 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT deutsche-bank-crypto-custody-prime-brokerage. www.coindesk.com/ Prime Brokerage.” CoinDesk,16Feb. 2021, “Deutsche BankQuietlyPlansto Offer Crypto Custody, pressearchiv/2019/191210_PI_finledger. www.nrwbank.de/de/corporate/presse/ Bank, 10Dec.2019, Schuldscheintransaktion überBlockchain ab.” NRW. “DekaBank undNRW.BANK wickeln komplettdigitale xhtml?oid=22744703. technology-for-launch-of-corporate-Schuldschein. 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Dbs.Com, 10Dec.2020,www.dbs.com/newsroom/ Ecosystem forDigitalAssets.” - Providing Tokenisation, Trading andCustody “DBS to LaunchFull-Service DigitalExchange dbs-launches-crypto-trust-in-a-first-for-asia. blockworks.co/ for Asia.” Blockworks,14May 2021, Reynolds, Sam.“DBSLaunchesCrypto Trust inaFirst dbs-digital-bond-security-token-offering. www.coindesk.com/ First Security Token Offering.” CoinDesk, 31 May 2021, Sinclair, Sebastian.“DBSIssues$ 15MDigitalBondin day-with-paxos. use-blockchain-to-settle-us-equities-trades-on-same- www.thetradenews.com/credit-suisse-and-instinet- with Paxos.” The TRADE, 7Apr. 2021, Blockchain to SettleUSEquities Trades onSameDay Parsons, Joe.“Credit SuisseandInstinetUse SOURCES blockchain-schuldschein-abgewickelt-104289. www.it-finanzmagazin.de/erster-vollstaendig-digitaler- Finanzmagazin, 17Apr. 2020, Blockchain-Schuldschein abgewickelt ·.” IT Finanzmagazin, I.“Erstervollständig digitaler startseite. “Enlyte –Enlyteyour life.” Enlyte,2021,enlyte.eu/de/ public-blockchain. ment-bank-eib-issues-its-first-ever-digital-bond-on-a- www.eib.org/en/press/all/2021-141-european-invest Blockchain.” European Investment Bank,17May 2021, EIB. “EIBIssuesItsFirstEver DigitalBondonaPublic blog.digitalasset.com/press-release/topic/abn-amro. 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zukaeufe.html. sal-investment-will-digitale-fonds-anbieten-und-plant- www.fundview.de/posts/2021/06/2021-06-22-univer- plant Zukäufe.” fundview.de, 22June2021, “Universal-Investment willdigitaleFonds anbieten und ui-enlyte-start. www.universal-investment.com/de/themen/presse/ Universal Investment, 15Dec. 2020, Investmentplattformen fürDigitalAssets weltweit.” einederersten “Universal-Investment startet html?intcid=INT-IG_CTA0019. successo-la-prima-transazione-commerciale-s. press-releases/2019/unicredit-esegue-con- www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/press-media/ UnicreditGroup.Eu, 21Mar. 2019, in ItalyviaWe.Trade Blockchain Platform.” “UniCredit SuccessfullyCompletesFirst Transaction nydig-bitcoin-etf-admin-role. www.coindesk.com/us-bank-cryptocurrency-custody- Apr. 2021, Admin RoleforNYDIG’s BitcoinETF.” CoinDesk,27 “US BankSelectsCryptocurrency Custodian, Wins ubs-crypto-cross-border. www.pymnts.com/blockchain/2019/ Consortia.” PYMNTS.Com, 4June2019, “UBSLeadsBlockchainPymnts. SettlementCoin blockchain/2019/ubs-crypto-cross-border. PYMNTS.Com, 4June2019,www.pymnts.com/ “UBS LeadsBlockchain SettlementCoinConsortia.” ubs-crypto-cross-border. www.pymnts.com/blockchain/2019/ PYMNTS.Com, 4June2019, “UBS LeadsBlockchain SettlementCoinConsortia.” assets. sees-great-potential-in-tokenization-and-digital- cvj.ch/en/focus/blockchain-en/ubs-ceo-ralph-hamers- 10 Dec.2020, Tokenization &DigitalAssets.” Crypto Valley Journal, “UBS CEORalphHamersSeesGreat Potential in we-trade.com. “We.Trade.” We.Trade, 2021, india. launches-tokenization-based-receivables-system-for- cointelegraph.com/news/global-banking-giant-hsbc- Cointelegraph, 18June 2019, “Cointelegraph.Com | 502:BadGateway.” rency-custodian-for-institutional-investors. nered-with-northern-trust-to-launch-zodia-a-cryptocur www.sc.com/en/media/press-release/weve-part- 2020, | Standard Chartered.” 9 Dec. Standard Chartered, a Cryptocurrency Custodian forInstitutionalInvestors “We’ve Trust with Northern Partnered to LaunchZodia, cheaper-than-swift-says-exec. www.coindesk.com/wells-fargos-stablecoin-faster- SWIFT, Says Exec.” CoinDesk,20Sept.2019, “Wells Fargo’s Stablecoin‘Faster, Cheaper’ Than 5-million-usd-in-cryptocurrency-startup-elliptic.html. www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/wells-fargo-invests- 13 Feb. 2020, Helps BanksManageCryptocurrency Risks.” CNBC, Browne, Ryan. “Wells Fargo That Backs aStart-up In-text citation cash-product/?sh=1397c240363f. fargo-co-signs-cryptocurrencies-with-new-digital- www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2019/09/25/wells- With NewDigitalCashProduct.” Forbes, 8Jan.2021, Hale, Kori. “Wells Fargo Co-SignsCryptocurrencies schreibung-von-vonovia-203822. line/warburg-bank-investiert-in-digitale-schuldver- www.institutional-money.com/news/maerkte/head institutional-money.com, 13Jan.2021, digitale Schuldverschreibung von Vonovia.” www. Money, Institutional.“Warburg in Bankinvestiert vollumfaenglich-regulierter-handel-von-krypto-assets. www.bankhaus-scheich.de/ Assets.” BankhausScheich,6Oct.2020, “Vollumfänglich Handelvon Krypto- regulierter - - 57 BITBOND RESEARCH REPORT www.bitbond.com Bitbond at: Find more infoandnewsabout [email protected] reprint, pleasecontactBitbondat For informationorpermissionto © Bitbond2021.Allrightsreserved Imprint 10119 Berlin Lottumstraße 26 Bitbond GmbH Address