Germany's second largest stock exchange launches Crypto Trading App

The fintech department of the second largest stock exchange in Germany will launch a cryptocurrency trading application later this year.

Sowa Labs, a subsidiary of Börse Stuttgart, announced the application on Friday. The application will be launched in September and will initially provide transaction support for Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Litecoin. According to the application's official website, "More assets are coming soon."

The app, called Bison, is available for free download. According to developers, the app will not charge transaction fees when it is released. This prototype was demonstrated at a trade show in Stuttgart this week.

"Bison makes digital currency trading easy. It is the world's first encryption application with a traditional stock exchange," said Ulli Spankowski, general manager of Sowa Labs, in a statement.

The exchange acquired Sowa Labs last December and obtained a 100% stake in the Ulm startup. Although the exact number is unknown, the purchase price is reported to be several million euros.

This development represents the latest example of traditional stock exchanges - through subsidiaries - into cryptocurrency trading games.

Last month, Canadian stock exchange operator TMX announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary has established a cryptocurrency brokerage company. According to reports, the brokerage company that initially focused on Bitcoin and Ethernet will be launched in the second quarter of 2018.