Invite-Only Events

In July, together with our partners from the Brunswick Group, we hosted an invitation-only breakfast briefing in the heart of political Berlin. Under the title „US POWERPLAY IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL POLICY AND ITS IMPACT ON EUROPE“, we held an in-depth discussion on the US offensive in the area of digital assets and stablecoins.

For us, these invitational events under Chatham House Rules are an important opportunity to draw the attention of the newly formed government, as well as the political and business communities in Germany, to this massive change. The intended de facto standard-setting to strengthen the influence of the US dollar will keep us busy for years to come and will affect economic, financial, and foreign policy, as well as virtually all export-oriented companies.

This made the impulse statements (on the US administration’s strategy, delivered by Michael J. Cyrus of DekaBank, and the outlook on Europe’s and Germany’s options for responding, presented by long-time Bundesbank board member Prof. Dr. Joachim Wuermeling), all the more compelling.

The subsequent panel, moderated by our Managing Director Sebastian Becker and featuring Peter Grosskopf of AllUnity and Benedikt Faupel of Bitpanda, highlighted the magnitude of this change and the aspects the German government should urgently address. Key points were:

💡 The money stack will become more complex, and we need state-of-the-art solutions in all areas.

💡 The Digital Euro will be a European response and emphasize the primacy of sovereign money – but it will not be sufficient on its own.

💡 We need more speed in the implementation of innovation and urgently need to deepen the know-how in politics and business.

💡 European coordination must also be strengthened, especially between France and Germany.

💡 A legal framework that supports, but does not hinder, the path from planning to implementation of innovation is urgently needed. Instead of too many fragmented frameworks, tangible and explicit support from government actors is needed.

💡 The US is pursuing a serious policy roll-out in this area – and the dollar will not be replaced as the world’s reserve currency anytime soon. But since not everything will be a one-size-fits-all solution there either, Europe – especially as a community of shared values – still has opportunities to develop its own strategy – together with industry.

We are delighted by the keen interest in this topic and would like to thank Ulrich Deupmann, Arne Lietz, Monika Küpker, and the entire Brunswick Group team for the hospitality, the view of the Reichstag and Berlin, and our speakers for their exciting insights into the financial world of tomorrow.

Further agenda-setting events in Berlin and other German cities will take place in the second half of the year – because there is still much to do. So stay tuned!

Bundesblock and Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH have teamed up to organize a German blockchain and web3 delegation trip to Brussels in October 2024.

Meeting with different units of the European Commission and hosting an evening reception & session at the Berlin Representative Office in Brussels, we discussed various topics from infrastructure to new forms of programmable money and industrial process efficiencies & collaborative innovation.

In discussions with various departments of the EU Commission, at our evening event, and during the many opportunities for personal discussions, it became clear that many projects have made significant progress – without the general public necessarily taking notice.

Volker Löwe, Head of the Berlin State Office, explicitly emphasized in his welcoming remarks at that now is the right time to discuss these opportunities with the new stakeholders in Brussels, within the Commission and Parliament.

The same certainly applies to Germany – before the federal election campaign got underway, we were championing technological innovation despite the challenging global situation and to further advance Berlin’s technology innovation policy outlook for 2025 and beyond

From the Commercial Bank Money project, initiated by a consortium of German banks and industrial companies to tokenization projects pursuant to the eWpG (German Electronic Product Act) and the implementation of MiCA and Digital Product Passports – together with our speakers Claus George (DZ BANK AG), Heinz-Günter Lux (Evonik), Markus Kluge (tokenforge), Claudia-Camilla Malcher (Siemens), Dr. Joachim Schwerin (European Commission), Daniel Heinen (Bundesblock), and Dr. Nina-Luisa Siedler (Berlin University of Applied Sciences), we made it clear that blockchain solutions offer the opportunity to develop sustainable and resilient building blocks for our ‚backend of tomorrow.‘ And we can do this without compromising on data protection, European sovereignty, or the continuation of our liberal and democratic values.

Our Managing Director Sebastian Becker and the Web3 sector lead Jakob Zwiers from Berlin Partner thanked all the participants and also announced further activities, such as the innovation policy agenda-setting roundtables we kicked off in November 2024 in Berlin Partner’s offices to start a programmatic discussion about how to best exert constructive ‘pressure’ on German parties during the election campaign for the Federal Elections of February 2025.