Big bang in Stuttgart: Boerse Stuttgart Group and Nasdaq cooperate on blockchain settlement

A significant step for the digitalization of the European capital markets comes from Stuttgart! The Boerse Stuttgart Group and the global exchange operator Nasdaq have entered into a strategic partnership. The aim of the cooperation is to establish a pan-European infrastructure for the trading and settlement of tokenized securities.

Seturion, Boerse Stuttgart Group's new digital settlement platform, is at the center of the cooperation. Nasdaq intends to connect its European trading venues to this platform in the future in order to process transactions with tokenized assets faster and more cost-efficiently.

Blockchain technology for more efficient capital markets

Seturion was designed as an open platform that is available to all market participants. It supports different types of tokenized assets and can integrate both public and private blockchains. It also enables settlements via both central bank money and digital on-chain payment methods.

Seturion is deliberately designed as an open industry solution and makes a decisive contribution to overcoming the current national fragmentation of the European post-trade infrastructure and creating the basis for a unified European capital market.

Matthias Voelkel, CEO of the Boerse Stuttgart Group

The partnership will also connect Nasdaq's European trading venues to the platform in the future. Initially, the focus will be on structured products, but the long-term aim is to create a broad ecosystem for tokenized securities.

Fight against fragmentation of the European post-trade infrastructure

The European capital market infrastructure is highly fragmented in the so-called post-trade area (i.e. after the actual trade). National systems and different providers often lead to high costs, complex processes and long settlement times.

With Seturion, the partners want to modernize these structures. The platform uses blockchain technology, but remains fully compatible with European regulatory frameworks such as MiFID II and the DLT Pilot Regime.

Stuttgart as a driver for digital financial market infrastructure

For Matthias Voelkel, CEO of Boerse Stuttgart Group, the partnership is a decisive step towards a uniform European capital market. Seturion was deliberately developed as an open industry solution in order to overcome the national fragmentation of the infrastructure.

Lidia Kurt, CEO of Seturion, also sees the platform as a fundamental technological leap forward: the previous post-trade infrastructure was not designed for a digital world. The use of modern technology could reduce frictional losses and make processes significantly more efficient.

This partnership builds on our broader vision for the future of market infrastructure, which includes continuous activity in trading, clearing, settlement, risk management and collateral.

Roland Chai, President European Market Services and Head of Digital Assets Nasdaq

According to Roland Chai, President European Market Services and Head of Digital Assets at Nasdaq, tokenization opens up new opportunities to eliminate inefficiencies in securities settlement and trading processes without compromising stability, trust and regulatory standards.

Building a pan-European ecosystem

In the long term, Boerse Stuttgart Group and Nasdaq want to jointly build a network of issuers, brokers and financial institutions that will enable the trading and settlement of tokenized securities across Europe.

The cooperation is seen as an important step towards adapting the infrastructure of the capital markets to the digital age and could pave the way for a new generation of blockchain-based financial market services in Europe.