Two major tech companies – Siemens and Samsung – have made significant strides in the crypto sector, each increasing their involvement in different ways.
Siemens issues a €300 million digital bond.
German tech giant Siemens launched its second digital bond, worth €300 million, on a public blockchain, according to a September 4 statement.
The bond, which was due to mature in a year, was settled using SWIAT’s private permissioned blockchain and leveraged the Bundesbank’s Trigger Solution. DekaBank acted as bond registrar, while BayernLB, DZ BANK, Helaba and LBBW participated as investors. Deutsche Bank facilitated the settlement in central bank money.
Siemens stated that the transaction was completed “fully automated, within minutes and in central bank money.” It also added that the bond was issued under Germany’s Electronic Securities Act, which came into effect in 2021. This law allows the issuance of securities in electronic form, eliminating the need for physical certificates.
Meanwhile, the company also noted that its new digital bond also supports the European Central Bank’s (ECB) testing of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for settling securities with central bank money.
This bond issuance follows Siemens’ debut of a €60 million digital bond in February 2023. Ralf P. Thomas, Chief Financial Officer of Siemens AG, stated:
“By issuing another digital bond, we are once again demonstrating our spirit of innovation and underlining our goal to continuously drive digital solutions for the financial markets.”
Samsung invests in Web3 startup Startale Labs
Samsung Next, the venture capital arm of South Korean tech giant Samsung, has invested an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based Startale Labs as part of its Soneium Spark program, according to a September 4 blog post statement from Samsung Next investor John Yim.
Yim explained that the company invested in Startale Labs because they provide essential tools and infrastructure – such as Astar Network, Soneium and Startale Cloud Services – that simplify the development and deployment of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts.
He stated that Startale Labs solutions reduce barriers such as high entry costs, lack of interoperability and technical complexity, making Web3 technologies more accessible and scalable to developers and enterprises.
Sota Watanabe, founder of Startale Labs, stated that his company’s strategy was to “first secure the distribution channels and connect with people outside the Web3 space.” He added:
“We understand the existing problems and then explore how Web3 can address them. All technical solutions must be driven by the problems, not by the technology itself.”