German real estate group issues $24 million in property bonds using Stellar blockchain

Prominent European real estate group Vonovia has issued a €20 million ($24 million) property bond using the Stellar blockchain.

According to a Jan. 13 announcement, Vonovia has deployed the Stellar blockchain to issue security tokens for real estate title transfers. The tokens were issued through an online marketplace called firstwire. Vonovia said the total term of the blockchain-powered bonds is three years.

Vonovia’s chief financial officer Helene von Roeder said the blockchain-powered digitization of the bonds makes it “faster, easier and cheaper” for the company to finance itself.

“Issues are transparent and trackable in real time, guaranteeing professional trading standards. This also enables us to attract new investors globally,” Rhodes noted.

Vonovia previously provided a €50 million ($61 million) promissory note loan on the firstwire platform in September 2019.

Vonovia’s entry into bond digitization comes shortly after German regulators officially legalized the issuance of digital securities in late 2020. The German government passed a law in mid-December that eliminated the requirement for paper proof of the sale of securities, paving the way for new technologies, including blockchain-based digital securities.

The Stellar network has been growing in popularity in recent months. In early January 2021, the Ukrainian government partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to develop a new digital asset ecosystem and central bank digital currency.