Deutsche Börse is pressing ahead with its stablecoin initiative. The exchange operator has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Frankfurt based startup Allunity to integrate its euro based stablecoin offering into the exchange’s infrastructure, according to a joint statement released on 26 November. Allunity is a joint venture between DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy, that is licensed as an electronic money institution.

As part of the cooperation, Allunity’s fully backed euro stablecoin EURAU will be made available for institutional level custody through Clearstream. The German entity of Crypto Finance, a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse Group, is expected to act as sub custodian. This setup provides a fully regulated and secure environment for market participants to use this Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Regulation compliant euro stablecoin solution. In the next steps, euro stablecoins will be integrated into the entire service portfolio of the Deutsche Börse Group.

When the partnership with the stablecoin issuer Société Générale Forge was announced recently, it was already clear that the use of stablecoins in the Deutsche Börse’s market infrastructure would expand. At the end of September, the exchange had brought its first stablecoin partner on board, with the US company Circle. The Frankfurt based group intends to offer Circle’s stablecoins such as EURC and USDC through its infrastructure.

The integration of stablecoins into regulated financial market infrastructure is advancing at high speed. According to the statement, the integration of EURAU will make a concrete contribution to the digitalisation of European markets and to improving settlement and liquidity processes.

"Europe is taking a global lead in regulated digital finance, and we are proud that AllUnity is contributing to this milestone with our euro-backed Stablecoin, EURAU. By partnering with Deutsche Börse Group, we are making on-chain cross border payments and digital assets accessible to institutional market participants in a secure and compliant way,” said Alexander Höptner, CEO of AllUnity.

„Our goal is to build a seamless bridge between the established financial world and the future of digital assets," added Stephanie Eckermann, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse Group, responsible for Post-Trading. "This partnership with AllUnity is an important component of that bridge. By further embedding institution-grade stablecoins within our regulated framework, we empower our clients to confidently explore new possibilities in digital finance, backed by the security and market integrity they have come to expect from us.“

Clearstream has been offering settlement and custody services for cryptocurrencies for institutional investors for several months. The group’s cooperation with various stablecoin providers and the existing cryptocurrency activities of Crypto Finance complement the Deutsche Börse’s efforts to test wholesale central bank digital currencies. In 2024 the group’s tokenisation solution D7 DLT was used in the ECB’s test programme.

That Deutsche Börse is preparing significant changes for future market infrastructure is also evident in a recent statement from its Swiss subsidiary Crypto Finance. Together with Amina Bank, it carried out a payment pilot on the Google Cloud Universal Ledger Platform. The setup is intended to modernise cross border payments including currency conversion. Thanks to DLT infrastructure these transactions can be executed almost in real time and around the clock. From Switzerland the focus will be on processing large volumes of commercial bank money.

Amina Bank plans to scale this globally according to its CEO Franz Bergmueller. Crypto Finance CEO Stijn Vander Straeten says the pilot strengthens Switzerland’s position as a leading hub for digital financial innovation. Deutsche Börse selected Google as its main cloud provider years ago, enabling joint development of digital innovations. These efforts are now bearing fruit. It is also notable that Google can already deliver highly scalable DLT based payment processing through its cloud platform, capable of handling traditional payments such as those from the SEPA system as well as digital assets. Tech firms like Stripe are working on similar solutions through its Tempo blockchain, which powers the Klarna stablecoin. Circle, the exchange’s partner, is also developing a payment optimised blockchain called Arc.