Blockchain in Frankfurt

The biggest blockchain project in Frankfurt is run by the central banks. The European Central Bank and the euro area national central banks have launched Pontes, which settles tokenized assets in central bank money: participants settle with cash tokens on the Eurosystem DLT platform or in T2, the real-time gross settlement system. The first group includes Deutsche Bank, DekaBank, DZ Bank, KfW, BayernLB and NRW.BANK next to banks from France and Spain, and the DLT operators Axiology, Cashlink, Clearstream and SWIAT. The Deutsche Bundesbank is onboarded as well.

Pontes grew out of the Eurosystem's trials, where the Bundesbank tested its Trigger solution, which links a DLT platform to central bank payments. A companion initiative, Appia, looks at how a wider tokenized market in Europe could work. For a bank in Frankfurt this is the practical question of the moment: can a tokenized bond settle against euros with the same finality as a normal trade in T2?

SWIAT is a Frankfurt company that builds a blockchain settlement network for banks. It is a joint venture in which DekaBank, LBBW and SC Ventures of Standard Chartered each hold 30 percent and Comyno 10 percent. Siemens issued a 300 million euro digital bond on SWIAT, and DekaBank and LBBW settled a repo on it through the Bundesbank's Trigger solution.

Deutsche Börse Group runs D7, Clearstream's digital post-trade platform, crypto custody at Clearstream and crypto trading through Crypto Finance, so a tokenized bond or a bitcoin can sit in the same account as a Bund. 21X holds a BaFin license under the EU's DLT Pilot Regime for a trading and settlement venue on blockchain, where tokenized securities trade against e-money tokens. The German law behind many of these issues is the Electronic Securities Act; the blockchain in Germany page explains it.

For years, "blockchain Frankfurt School" meant the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC), a research center and think tank on crypto-assets, digital securities, CBDCs, tokenization and DeFi. It ran the DLT Talents program and the Crypto Assets Conference. The center has since been renamed the Centre for Digital Economics (FS-C4DE). It researches blockchain, AI and quantum computing in finance and builds prototypes with distributed ledgers.

Frankfurt School teaches the field in its Master in Financial Technology, a full-time program in English. Anyone new to the field can start with the hub answers on smart contracts and tokenized securities.

The work has moved from proofs of concept to operations. Treasury and securities teams decide which ledgers they connect to, how a tokenized bond is booked and who holds the keys. Compliance teams map each product to MiCA, the DLT Pilot Regime or German securities law. IT teams deal with DORA, because a DLT operator is an ICT third party of the bank. And payments teams ask whether the cash leg runs on tokenized central bank money, tokenized deposits or a euro stablecoin.

Finance Loop started in Frankfurt, and blockchain in finance has been on its program from the start. The FS-C4DE is a strategic partner of Finance Loop, and Finance Loop partners with the Crypto Assets Conference, which Frankfurt School and Deutsche Börse Group host together at the Frankfurt School campus for the financial industry, regulators and policymakers. On the evening of CAC 2026 Finance Loop held the Digital Finance Night for people working on institutional projects. Finance Loop sponsored CAC 2025 with its own booth, and the day before, CoreLedger, Finemetal and S-PRO showed at TechQuartier how to tokenize real-world assets such as gold.

At the Frankfurt Forum on Digital Assets & Applications, organized by d-fine, DekaBank, 360X and 21X discussed DLT-based market infrastructures, and speakers from the Deutsche Bundesbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and DZ Bank discussed payments in DLT-based markets. During Sibos in Frankfurt, Finance Loop organized a side event at TechQuartier with Frankfurt Main Finance and OKX Institutional on payments and blockchain technology.

Finance Loop meetups in Frankfurt have covered oracles with a Chainlink panel, and Solana with Superteam Germany at the Web3 Builders Ideathon. Superteam Germany also brought Solana builders to Frankfurt for Supertour Germany, with Finance Loop as media partner. With 21X, Finance Loop has a strategic cooperation for joint events. For the crypto side of the city see crypto in Frankfurt.

It was the blockchain research center of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, founded by Philipp Sandner and later led by Co-Pierre Georg. It organized the Crypto Assets Conference and talent programs such as DLT Talents. It has been renamed the Centre for Digital Economics (FS-C4DE), which now covers blockchain, AI and quantum computing.

Yes. The Crypto Assets Conference (CAC) takes place each year at Frankfurt School, hosted with Deutsche Börse Group, for banks, market infrastructure, regulators and policymakers. Finance Loop holds side events around it. Dated blockchain events in Frankfurt are in the calendar above.

Pontes is the Eurosystem's service for settling tokenized assets in central bank money. Banks and DLT platforms connect to it and settle the cash leg with Eurosystem cash tokens or in T2. Its first participants include Deutsche Bank, DekaBank, DZ Bank, KfW, Clearstream and SWIAT.

DekaBank and LBBW own SWIAT and have settled repos and bonds on it, Deutsche Bank and DZ Bank are among the first Pontes participants, and Deutsche Börse runs D7 and crypto custody at Clearstream. 21X runs a licensed DLT trading venue in the city.