Germany Electronic Securities Act (eWpG)

The eWpG gives German issuers a statutory route to create electronic securities. Current scope covers bearer debt securities, registered shares, and bearer shares when they are entered in a central register. The statute does not make every token a regulated security; instead, it defines when a covered German-law instrument can be issued electronically and how the legal position is recorded.

Under the core rule, an electronic security is issued when the issuer causes an entry to be made in an electronic securities register instead of issuing a securities certificate. The statute also provides that, unless the eWpG states otherwise, an electronic security has the same legal effect as a certificated security. That functional-equivalence rule is central to the law’s role in dematerializing German capital-markets instruments.

The eWpG separates electronic securities registers into two main categories: central registers and crypto securities registers. A central-register security is an electronic security entered in a central register. A crypto security is an electronic security entered in a crypto securities register.

• Central registers: These are designed for electronic securities entered in a central register, including market-infrastructure use cases connected to a central securities depository or custodian structure.
• Crypto securities registers: These are the eWpG route for crypto securities and may use distributed-ledger-style technology when the statutory register requirements are met.
• Register entry: The legally relevant event is the register entry, not merely the creation of a token or smart-contract record outside the eWpG framework.

For crypto securities registers, the statute requires a tamper-resistant recording system in which data is logged chronologically and protected against unauthorized deletion and later alteration. This requirement anchors the eWpG’s blockchain relevance while preserving a legal test that is broader than any single technology.

BaFin treats crypto securities register operation as a permissioned financial service under the German Banking Act framework. A business that wants to operate as a crypto securities registrar in Germany generally needs BaFin authorization, and BaFin has published guidance on the authorization procedure and on the statutory activity of crypto securities register operation.

This makes the eWpG important for crypto-market infrastructure providers, tokenization platforms, banks, custodians, and issuers considering German-law electronic securities. The law regulates the issuance form and the register function; other regimes may still apply depending on the instrument, offer structure, trading venue, custody model, investor base, and EU law.

The eWpG was adopted as Article 1 of the wider Act Introducing Electronic Securities. It became operative in June 2021. The 2023 Future Financing Act expanded the law’s practical relevance by adding electronic-share use cases. In 2026, the Standortfördergesetz amended the eWpG again, including changes to sections 20, 23, and 31 and repeal of the former section 20 list mechanism. Older materials referring to BaFin’s public crypto securities list should therefore be checked against the current consolidated statute before publication.

For taxonomy purposes, this profile should be tagged to Germany, Act, In force, Securities, Tokenization, Licensing & Registration, and Market Structure & Regulatory Perimeter. The profile is descriptive only and should not be read as legal, tax, investment, or compliance advice.