Bundesbank and Deutsche Börse have been working together on blockchain-based settlement technology research since 2016, giving their explorations the name 'Blockbaster' (BLOCKchain BAsed Settlement TEchnology Research). The functionality of blockchain technology for securities settlement and the cash leg settlement of transactions was successfully demonstrated in previous project phases. The institutions say that the solution tested in this latest stage of their research can be adopted by a variety of DLT-based settlement systems, so represents a 'major advance for the further use of DLT in the financial sector and real economy'. "Following successful testing, the Eurosystem should be able to implement such a solution in a relatively short space of time – at least in far less time than it would take to issue central bank digital currency, for instance," said Burkhard Balz, the member of the Bundesbank's executive board responsible for the central bank's payments and settlement systems directorate-general.