Project Atlas provides data tailored to the needs of "central banks and financial regulators". It fuses data gathered from "crypto exchanges (off-chain data) with data from public blockchains (on-chain data) gathered from nodes." By connecting various sources, Atlas allows for "data vetting, giving users tools to evaluate these markets' economic significance more accurately."

As part of a first proof of concept, Project Atlas derives cryptoasset flows across geographical locations. The approach uses transactions attributed to crypto exchanges in the Bitcoin network, along with the location of those exchanges, as a proxy for cross-border capital flows.

The initial findings indicate that "although relatively small compared with total on-chain network traffic, identified flows between crypto exchanges are significant and substantial economically. Attributing geographical areas to exchanges (where possible) lays out the structure of cross-border flows. Project Atlas provides a starting point for structural analysis across jurisdictions."

See also: 'Project Atlas - Mapping the world of decentralised finance'.

The project, nicknamed BLOCKBASTER (which stands for blockchain based settlement technology research) started in March 2016 and "was motivated by developments in the financial industry as well as by advances in new technology".

The project, which was for research purposes and not intended to produce an operational system, aimed to create "a conceptual prototype" for a blockchain-based transfer and settlement of securities and cash.

The prototypes were intended to function as a sandbox for testing blockchain-based securities settlement, including the full lifecycle of bond issuance, settlement, corporate actions, redemption as well as cash transfer, including provisioning of digital coins, transfer between market participants and settlement of cash payments.

The prototypes were developed by Hyperledger Fabric and the blockchain platform created by Digital Asset.

The tests showed that the prototypes can facilitate the "productive operation of a realistic financial market infrastructure".

Recent upgrades of both blockchain platforms could further improve performance if integrated, it adds.

"The tests showed that both prototypes are suitable for the productive operation of a realistic financial market infrastructure and can serve as a basis for further development. Both the Digital Asset Platform and the Hyperledger Fabric have had subsequent releases which may even improve the performance," the release said.

Berthold Kracke, CEO of Clearstream Banking and head of Clearstream Global Operations at Deutsche Börse Group said:

“We are very happy with the results of the project. The tests have shown that blockchain technology is a suitable basis for applications in the field of settlement and other financial infrastructures."

Burkhard Balz, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Bundesbank, said:

“During this project, Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Börse learned a lot about the usage of this technology and its concrete implementation. We expect the rapid development to continue, and also see the potential in using it for high-volume applications. The approach of a permissioned architecture, which takes into account the requirements of the financial sector from the outset, has proven to be right.”

The first two companies, Gum Ltd, operating as Stern Markets and online via www.sternmarkets.com, and Pairs Ltd (www.weissfinance.com), are both based in the Marshall Islands, and the third company is BP1 LP (www.sternoptions.com) is based in the UK.

BaFin said that all three companies have been offering binary options or CFDs on shares, indices, currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies without proper authorisation.

"If a website is in German, offers customer support in German and German telephone numbers are provided, this does not necessarily mean the company is domiciled in Germany," the regulator said.

The regulator explained that it is often hard to find the names of the platforms' operators on their websites and that the addresses given as the company headquarters are often offshore letterbox addresses.

Further, the operating companies and their alleged company headquarters change frequently.

The operating companies usually do not hold authorisation to target the German market or to conduct business in Germany.

"There is a high risk that it will not be possible to enforce the repayment of funds paid into these online accounts or the payment of any profit generated", BaFin warned.

The report looks at

• the benefits of DLT;
• the prospects of DLT being applied in payments;
• whether DLT has any potential uses in the settlement of securities; and
• whether the use of DLT could be flanked by the provision of a central bank digital currency.