Deutsche Börse and Commerzbank today announce their entry into a strategic partnership with fintech 360X to develop new blockchain-based digital marketplaces and ecosystems for existing real asset classes such as art and real estate.

In order to achieve this, the partners combine their strengths: Deutsche Börse as experienced market infrastructure operator, Commerzbank as partner for the digital banking world of tomorrow, and 360X’s experienced team of fintech founders will jointly work on digital marketplaces of the future to generate new revenue potential. The first reference transaction (minimum viable product) for two asset classes is planned for this year.

The new trading platform facilitates investment in asset classes that have so far been illiquid, explains Carlo Kölzer, founder and CEO of 360X. Carlo Kölzer and his team founded 360T, a Forex trading platform, in Frankfurt in 2000.

The assets will be made investable and tradable via tokenisation and fractionalisation. Tokenised real assets are mapped on blockchain to facilitate access for investors and allow the fractionalisation of the underlying asset.

The three partners maintain the highest standards of legal certainty, data protection, and compliance with regulatory frameworks as well as for the establishment of an orderly secondary market.

Carlo Kölzer comments:

“360X aims at a megatrend. Digital assets are an exponential growth market. We create new ecosystems and offer investors innovative investment opportunities in assets which they did not have access to before. This creates added value for the financial sector.”