German central bank holds blockchain technology conference

Rage Comment : The German central bank has released a report saying that the connection between Bitcoin and illegal activities has begun to weaken. This week, the central bank and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management jointly held a four-day blockchain conference to explore the connection between Bitcoin and blockchain and various industries, especially the financial industry. The conference participants came from government regulators and start-ups. The conference specifically studied some application cases, which was a big change from the previous attitude of the central bank.

Translation: Annie_Xu

This week, the German central bank held a four-day blockchain conference.

The conference, titled “Blockchain Technology – Opportunities and Challenges,” was jointly organized by the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. The focus of the debate included the future of Bitcoin and the application of blockchain technology in the financial industry and other industries.

Participants included regulators Deutsche Bundesbank, the European Central Bank and the UK financial watchdog, the Prudential Regulation Authority; and startups Monax, Digital Asset Holdings, Ripple and R3.

The German central bank said:

“The conference discussed the progress and potential applications of blockchain, especially in the financial industry. The conference tried to answer the question of whether blockchain can be used in the payment field and introduced some possible blockchain use cases.”

The Bundesbank has called for regulation of Bitcoin in the past, with central bank board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele describing the digital currency as a speculative tool in 2014. More recently, board member Andreas Dombret has argued that blockchain could greatly improve efficiency, just not replace institutions that might adopt the technology.