Bundesverband für elektronische Wertpapiere
The Bundesverband für elektronische Wertpapiere e.V., or BVeW, is the German association of the companies that issue and register electronic securities under the Electronic Securities Act, the eWpG. Its members run crypto securities registers, build tokenization platforms and advise issuers, and the association speaks for them toward lawmakers, BaFin and the capital market.
Seven registrars and tokenization firms founded the association on 5 April 2023 in Cologne, at first under the name Bundesverband der Kryptowertpapierregisterführer. Its address is the Cologne office of the law firm Heuking, and its stated purpose is to make electronic securities, crypto securities in particular, better known and more widely accepted.
Founding members and the board
According to the founding announcement of Heuking, the founding members were Cashlink Technologies, Cryptoport, E-SEC, GfK Gesellschaft für Kryptoregisterführung, Smart Registry, Tangany and TokenForge. WM Datenservice joined as an associated member at the founding meeting, which followed a meeting of registrars that Heuking had hosted in Cologne in November 2022.
The board is chaired by Christopher Görtz, a capital markets lawyer at Heuking. His deputy is Daniel Wernicke, co-CEO of NYALA Digital Asset and managing director of its register subsidiary Smart Registry, and Markus Fehn, managing director of e-Sec, completes the board.
Members and partner companies
The website of the BVeW lists twelve partner companies and organizations. Among them are the registrar Cashlink, the Swiss Capital Markets and Technology Association, the consultancy FinPlanet, the tokenization platform tokenforge and the fund software maker xpecto.
The list also names the Frankfurt registrar SWIAT and the securities data provider of the WM Group. The European Digital Finance Association appears there as well, which ties the German association to the fintech associations that lobby in Brussels.
A technical standard for token-based crypto securities
In September 2023 the members adopted a technical standard for token-based crypto securities. A crypto security under the eWpG sits in a register on a tamper-proof recording system, usually a blockchain, and each registrar could otherwise model the token in its own way.
The standard defines a shared token format, so that the systems of other market participants can read and trade a crypto security from a register they do not run. In September 2025 the association confirmed two implementations that follow the standard and comply with the eWpG.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Europe
Position papers from the ZuFinG to the MiCA review
The BVeW comments on draft laws and consultations that touch electronic securities. Its first paper in May 2023 dealt with the draft of the Future Financing Act, the ZuFinG, which opened the eWpG to electronic shares, and a June 2023 paper covered smart contracts in the EU Data Act.
In 2026 the association answered the consultation on the Market Integration and Supervision Package in February, and in March it joined an open letter on DLT notaries, the DLT Pilot Regime and MiCAR. Later papers covered the evaluation of the eWpG, a German-French task force, the crypto tax act KStTG and the review of the MiCA regulation.
Electronic securities under the eWpG
The Electronic Securities Act of 2021 allows bonds, fund units and, since the ZuFinG, shares to exist without a paper certificate. A central register security sits with a central securities depository, while a crypto security sits in a crypto securities register on a distributed ledger that a BaFin-licensed registrar keeps.
Issuers use crypto securities for tokenized bonds, real estate financing and fund units, often in smaller volumes that a classic issue would not carry. How to plan such an issue step by step is covered under issuing tokenized securities in Germany.
BVeW and Finance Loop
Banks, asset managers and issuers in the Finance Loop network weigh whether to issue bonds and fund units as crypto securities and which registrar to work with. Finance Loop brings their capital markets, legal and operations teams together with registrars and platforms, so they can compare issues that have already gone through the eWpG process.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.