German stock exchange operator Deutsche Borse and Commerzbank, the lender, have invested in a new fintech firm named 360X that aims to create digital asset marketplaces.

Deutsche Borse has invested €10 million for a stake of nearly 50% in 360X’s holding company, while Commerzbank holds a significantly lower double-digit stake, according to a Deutsche Borse spokesperson. The remaining shares in the company are held by its founders and private investors.

360X will initially focus on supporting art and real estate investments, with debut transactions in each asset class scheduled for later this year. Further asset classes are expected to be added in due course.

A spokesperson for Deutsche Borse told The Block that, as part of 360X’s strategy to build new marketplaces and ecosystems for existing assets, “it is aimed at supporting the trading of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).“ 

Carlo Kölzer, founder and CEO of 360X, said in a statement that art and real estate were selected because they have historically proven illiquid investment markets.

“Our mantra is ‘making things investable – bridging the gap between asset classes and capital markets’. We create transparent and liquid trading venues for assets that have not yet existed in digital markets,“ he said.

Kölzer and his colleagues founded another firm named 360T, an electronic foreign exchange trading platform, in Frankfurt in 2000.

Deutsche Borse and Commerzbank have been experimenting with blockchain technology since 2019 when the pair executed a joint transaction on distributed ledger technology for the first time.