Bitbond, a European digital asset platform, has partnered with Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH), one of Europe’s oldest banks, to issue a EURO stablecoin (EURB). The stablecoin is available today and is leveraging the Stellar blockchain network. The stablecoin is said to be the first of its kind issued directly by a bank and is backed 1 to 1 to the euro.
Bitbond, based in Germany, is providing a tokenization service to financial services firms. At the beginning of this year, Bitbond announced a partnership with Bankhaus von der Heydt providing the bank with asset structuring and asset servicing using blockchain technology. Bitbond was also the first German company to receive approval from BaFin to issue a tokenized bond. The digital security also became immediately tradable upon issuance.
BVDH, in operation since 1754, has largely focused on serving institutional clients in securitization-related transactions. After exploring ways to make their securitization business more efficient with blockchain technology, Bitbond’s service was selected. The Stellar Development Foundation, the nonprofit organization supporting the development and growth of Stellar, assisted in the development of EURB and consulted with both Bitbond and BVDH regarding its technical integration.
The euro stablecoin may be leveraged by BVDH’s customers as well as third party developers of financial applications to settle digital asset transfers on-chain. With the asset now live on Stellar, Bitbond will integrate it into the platform it built for BVDH to use the stablecoin for securitization which includes mechanisms for burning and minting the token. For the Stellar ecosystem, this adds a new on/off-ramp for EUR on the network. Any user or business looking to connect to EUR through Stellar rails can now do so.
Radoslav Albrecht, Bitbond founder and CEO, said they have been working with Stellar since 2019:
“With this delivery of stablecoin issuance technology, Bitbond has completed our digital assets tech suite which, up to now, included digital asset custody and tokenization technology.”
Philipp Doppelhammer, Bankhaus von der Heydt managing director, said they were drawn to Bitbond and Stellar due to the ease of utilization:
“In our first use-case, SatoshiPay, a blockchain payments company and one of the earliest members of the Stellar network, will implement our EURB into its service DTransfer. DTransfer facilitates global cross-border money transfers for its business customers by exchanging different stablecoins and linking into banking systems around the world.”
Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, said the partnership between Bitbond and BVDH is testament to the ways that traditional banking and blockchain can work together:
“Adding a high-quality, bank-issued euro asset to Stellar is meaningful for our users and builders on our network, powering a new wave of financial innovation, leveraged immediately by Stellar-based apps including DSTOQ, Vibrant, and Lobstr.”
