Date: 01.09.2022Electronic securities:
The German Electronic Securities Act (Gesetz über elektronische Wertpapiere – eWpG) introduced the possibility to issue securities under civil law by means of an electronic register entry, i.e. without securitising them in a physical certificate.
As things currently stand, bearer bonds (section 1 of the eWpG) and investment share certificates (section 95 (1) of the German Investment Code (Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch – KAGB) can be issued electronically. This alternative is not yet permissible for shares.
Among the subsets of electronic securities are also crypto securities and crypto fund units. Crypto securities and crypto fund units normally constitute financial instruments within the meaning of banking and securities supervision law.
The obligations under supervisory law in this context are essentially comparable to those applicable to traditional securities. This generally includes, for example, prospectus requirements for an offer to the public and an authorisation requirement for conducting banking business or providing financial or investment services. Further details can be found in the section “Prospectus and authorisation requirements“ below.
